What is it?

When it comes to studio headphone use, we often discuss the various merits of different types of designs, and for good reason. For mixing and mastering you’ll want something that is sonically neutral, but also enjoyable to listen to and comfortable. In contrast for recording we tend to recommend closed-back designs, as although these sound less neutral, they prevent headphone spill and assist with isolation.

Tascam’s TH headphone range has included a variety of designs over the years and although not as highly regarded as market leaders such as Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic or Sony, they are typically very well made and affordable.

Up for review we have the Tascam TH-11 Studio Headphones. These are a closed-back design and as the name suggests are primarily aimed at studio users. They use 50mm drivers and feature mid-sized ear cups. Meanwhile the full width padded headband incorporates the sliding ear cup adjustment mechanism. The cups have reasonable rotation, although not the full 180 degrees, so are not particularly DJ friendly. They also include hinged joints, so that they can be folded away for transport.

Connection is via a reassuringly long 3m captive lead, which attaches to the bottom of the left-hand cup. This terminates in a 3.5mm mini jack and a push fit 6.3mm adapter is also included. The onward cabling to the right-hand cup is completely hidden inside the hinge joint, which keeps it tidy and safe from damage.

Performance

With a list price of £45/€50 the TH-11 is clearly aimed at the more budget conscious, and to help keep that price as low as possible there’s no included carry bag, which is a shame. Construction is also primarily plastic, so you’ll want to avoid careless handling. That said, overall they feel well made and have a quality finish. What’s more, with the Tascam logo across the top of the headband and on both ear cups, alongside some stylish red detailing, they look pretty classy.

Comfort is a key aspect of any headphone design. At 270g the TH-11 is super light and the fit is firm but not too tight. The headband is well padded, although the ear cup padding is quite light and if you’re used to memory foam designs, these do feel a bit lacking. Although, with a light design like this, it’s less of an issue and overall we found them reasonably comfortable over longer listening spells.

Closed-back studio headphones tend to be designed for recording duties and should be able to deliver a clear mid range and plenty of volume. On first listen the TH-11 has a reasonable mid range and a good amount of bass, but clearly has quite restrained high frequencies. This makes them sound quite dull, and if you were planning on using these for mixing, particularly at lower volumes, you’d be advised to look elsewhere. Nevertheless, crank the volume up and the high-frequency tail off can be beneficial, and this is the case here. There’s plenty of volume on offer and they deliver a punchy defined sound when pushed hard. This would make them a good choice when tracking drums, amped guitars or recording a whole band together.

Verdict

Overall, the TH-11 is clearly not a general purpose headphone, and there are better options if you want affordable headphones for mixing. However, for recording duties, particularly if you need a design that’s loud and punchy, it offers good value and really looks the part.

MusicRadar verdict: The Tascam TH-11 is a well-made and affordable headphone that is light, comfortable and reasonably compact when folded up for storage. The sonic signature won’t suit everyone, but for studio recording they are a reliable choice.

Specifications

• Operating design: closed back.
• Transducer: dynamic.
• Driver size: 50mm.
• Impedance: 32 Ohms.
• Sensitivity: 98dB +/-3dB.
• Frequency response: 18Hz to 22kHz.
• Maximum input power: 600mW.
• Cable length: 3m.
• Weight: 270g.
• CONTACT: Tascam

NAMM 2025: It's been a regular assist in the MusicRadar studio for years, and now the third version of Scaler Music/Plugin Boutique's theory-treasure trove Scaler is set to get us out of even more creative ruts. Its wider feature set promises to provide more intuitive assistance for those searching for songwriting and music theory support

Scaler 3 is no marginal update. The whole UI has been fully re-built from the ground-up, yet also retains many familiarities with Scaler 2 so existing users shouldn't feel daunted. Also with this third version comes the ability to launch the whole thing as an entirely standalone program.

The UI is divided into the three main pages: Browse, Create and Arrange.

The Browse page is where users can discover chord progressions, sequences and scales and try variations of their own. The Create page is the natural second port of call, wherein users can assemble new musical forms from this diverse raw material. Next, the Arrange page is where users can get their ideas structured into solid song forms.

The Arrange page now features a multi-lane timeline view (familiar to all DAW users) however in the Scaler 3 universe, the lanes are dedicated to core components, such as chords, melody, bass and phrases. All of which are in-sync with the main chord track.

Scaler 3 brings a couple of further pages into play, Explore and Colors. Explore allows users to navigate a wide range of chords that corellate to a specific scale. These are helpfully categorised by genre, and feel.

The Colors page gives a wider view of every chord voicing and their numerous harmonic alternatives in one view, providing substitution options and alternative chordal voicings to diversify your arrangement

Scaler's internal organisation of its core components has been fully refined for this release, grouping Scaler 2's Phrases, Performances, Melodies and Basslines under the 'Motions' monicker. Each of which is now tagged according to mood. A range of which have been designed by a group of professional musicians.

Further additions to Scaler 3 include deeper note editing and harmonic modifiers, enhanced categorisation and a wider array of compositional elements to incorporate into your developing arrangement.

Scaler 3 will launch in March. If you've yet to take the plunge and are curious to explore what Scaler has to offer, then you can purchase Scaler 2 now for £49 and receive Scaler 3 absolutely free upon its release. Upgrade pricing will be announced in March 2025.

An iOS version is set to be launched later in the year (Q2, according to Scaler Music's website). More info on Scaler 3 is set to be dropped in the run-up to its launch, so make sure you keep checking the official website for the latest.

What is it?

Torso Electronics S-4 is a 'Sculpting Sampler', a compact and well-built multitrack sampler, polyphonic sample player and multi-effects box all in one.

It instantly transforms any audio you record or play through it into wonderful abstract ambiences, swirling pads, f*cked up beats, distorted basslines, and detuned loops; you can build entire tunes with four tracks of tape-style recording, or simply use it as an instant multi-effect.

It's a piece of hardware you didn't know you needed, as you could easily fall in love with its off-kilter sound and experimental attitude, but you might want to wait until its final firmware update before you turn that love into a transaction for its not inconsiderable asking price.

Performance

S-4 has a built-in 4GB flash drive with plenty of factory content in folders like 'Harmonic', 'Rhythmic' and 'Field Recordings'. It allows you to capture external audio via an on-board microphone or a pair of stereo (or two mono) inputs around the back.

You can simply play audio through it or load in a factory sound and use its five 'devices' as a real-time multi-effect, which is great fun to do on its own.

These devices start with Material which has Tape, Poly and Bypass options and is your main setup option. Tape allows you to record audio over four tracks and Poly lets you play samples via a MIDI keyboard in polyphonic mode (up to eight voices).

Once selected – as with all devices – whichever device you select has up to eight parameters that become editable via the rotary knobs above on the top right of the unit. You can see what each of these does via the fantastic screen which has all eight rotaries mapped onto it and shows the corresponding values as you rotate each knob.

Tape, for example, has Start (sample start), Length, Tempo, Speed, Rotate (reverse), and Xfade (sample start and end crossfade) options via these dials. The final Material option, Bypass, simply allows you to play audio via the unit's inputs through the remaining four effect devices.

The first of these is Granular which features a time and pitch-shifting granular processor called Mosaic. Mosaic, has Pitch, Rate, Warp, and Spray options, among others, mapped to the eight rotaries for messing with your grains. All of these yield pretty dramatic results and you are not required to have a degree in granular processing to understand it; it's very much a case of experimenting, making something sound fantastic (99% of the time), and either saving the project when you get something good (which is always wise) or even recording the audio you create as a new sample or track of a complete song.

The next device slot is Filter, a 48-band tuned filter bank with the usual Cutoff and Resonance options plus Decay, Pitch, Slope, Tone, Scale and Wet options to twist. The screen comes into its own again here with the filter shape and any edits you make gloriously displayed. And that gets even better with the final two device slots: Color and Space. These focus on distortion, delay and reverb effects and both feature distinctive graphics – the reverb has a 3D box, for example – which alter as you change parameters; not essential for your editing but very cool nonetheless.

The last main event is the modulation area on S-4 which is pretty simple to use. You hit the Mod button, select a track and can then choose up to four modulators – with editable Wave, Random or ADSR envelope options – to act upon up to any destinations with an unlimited number per track. It's easy to implement and you can very quickly turn that sample – that you've already obliterated, turned into a pad or the filthiest of basslines – into a pulsating, rhythmic beast of audio. The modulation feature is one of the many great strings in S-4's bow.

As to that sound, well, by now you'll have guessed that we're talking experimental, degraded audio, incredibly intricate pads, and atmosphere by the bucketload. You could, should you wish, simply use S-4 as a four-track sample player/recorder without any effects and come up with completely dry, 'normal' tunes, but that would be totally missing the point. S-4's raison d'être is to mess with your audio and create something unworldly, something incredible and do it all in a matter of minutes in real time.

And that's what it does very well, but here's the rub. We love the sound and those of an experimental disposition will too, but while S-4 is a brilliant concept and has some amazing sonic potential, it's a software update or two away from perfection. There's the odd bug; we sometimes experienced a tweak on power up where it went to the wrong mode in certain menus, and the end sample point sometimes got stuck. More seriously some of the features – namely Temp, Perform and Scene in the performance section – were simply unavailable with the OS we were using (v1.04). These aren't in the latest 1.2.2 version either, which we updated to, although that update does iron out some bugs, particularly with loading and saving projects. We asked Torso Electronics about when the new features will be implemented and the company says that Perform and another function, Copy, will be in v1.5, while Temp and Scene will be in v2, although dates for those updates have not been specified.

That leaves us and you in a quandary. At present, as amazing as S-4 is as a multi-effect and audio mangler, it's not quite finished. While you could still get on board early and enjoy its experimental approach, it is a fair amount of cash to shell out for a product with some quite major features yet to be included. However, with those promised updates, it will very probably be worth the wait in the coming months, so look out for an update review just as soon as we can get the v2 firmware installed.

MusicRadar verdict: S-4 is the experimental effects box and sample mangler you didn't know you wanted, but you might want to wait until all the features are implemented and bugs completely ironed out before you part with its considerable asking price.

Hands-on demos

torso electronics

Specifications

• Virtual tape machine, effects box and MIDI controlled 8-voice sampler with wi-fi.
• 21 RGB buttons, nine endless encoders.
• Audio engine with five devices: Material (sampler/tape recorder), Granular, Filter, Color and Space.
• Modulation system with four configurable modulators that can be mapped to any parameter.
• 4GB flash memory.
• 24-bit/48 kHz stereo audio in and out.
• Connectivity: 2 line inputs, 2 line outputs, built-in mic, headphone out, MIDI in/out, analogue sync in/out, USB-C.
• Dimensions: (W x D x H) 242 x 156 x 39mm.
• Weight: 0.82kg.
• CONTACT: Torso Electronics

It’s likely that you’ve never seen anything quite like Donner’s MEDO (pronounced may · doh). That’s okay, because once you see what it looks like and hear what it can do, you’ll probably want to add it to your collection of music-making gadgets. 

Here are the basics: It’s a very compact and portable musical instrument that combines a sampler, synthesizer, looper, MPE MIDI controller, and a built-in speaker that looks a bit like a game controller. Literally anyone can quickly learn to use it to capture inspiration and create music anytime and anywhere. Oh, and I would be remiss not to mention that you can get one of your own for a price of ＄179.99, and you can enjoy a discount of over 30% during the year-end promotion season. If you’re a musician or just a creative person, get ready to be inspired.

MEDO’s Key Features

The tiny MEDO can do many things, but let’s look at the major features. First, it’s a sampler. Equipped with a built-in microphone and a robust sound engine, the diminutive MEDO can record up to five seconds of high-quality audio, allowing for quick sound sampling. Whether you're a creative professional or simply love collecting and using samples, this compact and portable device is sure to ignite your inspiration as the musical sketchpad. But the MEDO can do much more than grab and play samples. Users can easily switch between its various modes, including SCALE, DRUM, BASS, CHORD, and LEAD, that allow even beginners to start making music in the studio, at home or on the go. Pocket Your Inspiration!

Once you’ve got your sounds going, you can capture the elements of your songs using MEDO’s built-in 128-bar loop recording utility. This opens up a wide spectrum of possibilities for making music. And, it’s designed to be used by beginners and professional musicians alike. There’s even a quantize feature to ensure that your performance is automatically synchronized perfectly to the beat, to take care of timing intricacies.

That’s a lot of creative power, right? But as you explore MEDO, you’ll find that it doesn’t stop there. Your little MEDO becomes even more versatile when used with the MEDO Synth desktop software and the Donner Play app. These allow users to easily toggle between various preset sounds, including 15 sets of drum kit sounds by Loopmasters, and benefit from a powerful sound engine that combines subtractive synthesis and authentic samples. So if beat-making is your thing, you’ll have everything you need and more.

If you’re more about performance control, you’ll love that MEDO offers eight control methods including gestures to adjust and enhance your performance: Click, Press, Slide, Slap, Tilt, Shake, Wiggle and Move. Try the beat maker function with various gestures or control synth variables like filter cut-off and resonance or other effects. The combinations are almost endless.

Let’s not forget about portability–an important feature for creative people on the go. With MEDO, the world is your studio, because you can take this clever device anywhere. It weighs only six ounces (170 grams) and fits nicely in your hand, measuring only 3.4"D x 3.4"W x 1.5"H. Equipped with a 2000mAh lithium-ion battery, it offers three full hours of battery life and supports Bluetooth MIDI and Bluetooth audio connectivity. Plus, with a 3.5mm headphone jack, you can use it to create anytime, anywhere.

Something that Donner does mention is that your MEDO cannot be connected to an external controller, but it can be used as a controller to control external devices. Plus, MEDO can be seamlessly connected to any popular DAW software and hardware, providing advanced music production tools and gameplay options. MEDO is compatible with most MIDI applications and all major digital audio workstation software that supports MIDI.

Learning MEDO

If that all sounds like a lot, you’re right. There’s a lot to learn and Donner knows it, so they have provided a series of helpful professional videos in a collection called MEDO Classroom. The instructional videos are available on YouTube and cover the following topics:

MEDO Basics

• HOW TO GET STARTED WITH YOUR MEDO
• INTRODUCTION TO THE FUNCTION PANEL
• PRE SELECTED KEYS
• TONE MODE
• GESTURE CONTROL
• LOOPER
• OTHER SHORTCUTS
• FACTORY RESETS
• HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE DEMO

MEDO Synth

• SOUND DEMONSTRATION & PRODUCTION PROCESS
• OSCILLATOR AND GLOBALS MODULE
• RESONANT FILTER MODULE
• VCA MODULE
• GESTURE MAPPING MODULE

There are plenty of other instructional videos and demos, too, including guides to how to use MEDO with the Donner Play app and how to use MEDO with the desktop MEDO Synth Software. If you want to see the MEDO in action, Donner has partnered with a unique musical artist called Yukes (Justin Scholar). Originally from the United States, Yukes has a deep passion for traditional Chinese instruments, and has created a series of experimental and inspiring demonstration videos for MEDO where he often combines traditional Chinese instruments such as the guzheng, xiao, and hulusi with samplers, synthesizers, beatboxes, and other Western electronic music conventions. His approach is free-spirited and experimental, which aligns perfectly with the creative philosophy that MEDO espouses.

Get Your Own MEDO

Okay, it’s time for you to explore your creative side with your own MEDO, but first let’s do a quick review of what you’ll have at your fingertips:

The MEDO MIDI keyboard controller doesn’t look like a traditional keyboard, but has a sound library that boasts real instrument samples, subtractive synthesis, and built-in modes (Bass, Chord, Lead, Drum, Sample). With 100+ presets, it's a powerful, portable synth for versatile music creation.

There’s a built-in looper and synthesizer right onboard so you can use loop recording for instant creation or explore the 128-bar built-in recording possibilities. There are three auto-quantization modes that can aid users in creating, editing, and capturing their inspiration anytime, anywhere.

If you want to create samples of your own, you can capture unique sounds (about 5 seconds worth) in an instant with your MEDO, no problem. Then, sculpting sounds with the MEDO SYNTH app offers endless sound possibilities, allowing you to create unique tones and integrate them into your performance.

Finally, MEDO is both compact and lightweight with a rugged, element-resistant silicone finish, so it is suitable for both indoor and outdoor creative sessions. Keep it with you to use wherever and whenever inspiration strikes.

Don’t wait. Get your own MEDO from Donner Music and start on your creative journey today.

iZotope Neitron 5: What is it?

Compared to its mastering suite Ozone and the post-production audio repair tools of RX, Neutron has always looked like the most accessible bundle in iZotope’s plugin line-up. This is, in part, simply because its tools are the ones with the broadest appeal. Unlike its more pro-focused counterparts, the EQ, dynamics and mixing tools bundled into Neutron have obvious uses for musicians of all stripes, from bedroom producers or guitarists recording demos to professional engineers, soundtrack composers and beyond.

Neutron is also accessible by design though. The software’s flagship feature is its AI-powered Mix Assistant tool, which listens to incoming audio and creates a custom preset specifically suited to the needs of whatever you’re working on. While this doesn’t produce perfect results every time, it can go a long way towards making Neutron’s varied options feel less daunting for new users.

Now version 5 is here, which aims to simultaneously expand the software’s capabilities, via the addition of three new modules, and improve upon that AI-assisted accessibility.

In total, Neutron 5 now features 11 plugins. 10 of these are component plugins that can be loaded as standalone devices, while the 11th is a ‘mothership’ host plugin, which can contain any combination of the other 10 within a single interface.

iZotope Neutron 5: Performance and verdict

Neutron 5’s three new modules are named Density, Phase and Clipper. The first of these, Density, is an upward compressor module. This works, as the name suggests, in the opposite direction to more common downward compression. Where a typical compressor will squeeze audio downwards after its volume level crosses a certain threshold, an upward compressor will instead raise the volume of audio that falls below the threshold line.

This isn’t uncommon – plenty of modern compressor plugins operating in both upward and downward directions, including the stock tools in many DAWs – but it’s a handy tool to have as a part of Neutron’s arsenal. Upward compression is particularly useful when dealing with vocals or acoustic instrument parts where the dynamic range can be quite variable and more delicate moments can easily get lost in the mix.

Phase, meanwhile, is an automated tool for sorting out issues with the phase of a target audio track. It works in two ways. The first, Rotation, adjusts the symmetry of a waveform while the second, Delay, can move the audio back or forwards in time to adjust phase positioning in relation to a side gain input. These can make use of a combined ‘learn’ function, which works by analysing the phase of both its main input and – if assigned – a sidechain signal, and then making the necessary corrections to optimise the phase of the audio.

Those working with multi-tracked drums or electronic producers layering samples will find this a godsend - an instant way to address phase issues that can weaken your sound and result in beats lacking transient punch.

Clipper is a soft-clipping peak limiter, designed to help preserve headroom in the overall mix as well as apply flattering saturation when pushed with particularly hot signals. While it’s another relatively conventional tool, it’s made exponentially more useful thanks to Neutron 5’s other major enhancement – the addition of mid/side and transient/sustain modes, which join the existing multi-band capabilities across various modules in Neutron’s toolset.

These modes combine to make Neutron far more adept at targeting specific needs or enhancements in a mix. Mid/side, for example, allows for the centre of a signal to be tightened up for a more present foundation, whilst leaving the side signals more dynamic and atmospheric. Transient targeting, meanwhile, is excellent when combined with Clipper’s soft clipping, in order to bring saturation to drums without losing transient punch.

The headline Mix Assistant functionality has been refined for this version too. Along with incremental improvements to the AI underpinning the functionality, the top-level Assistant View UI has been updated. This is essentially a simplified entry point to Neutron’s parameters, allowing users to refine the key processes of an Assistant-created patch without diving into the full UIs of the individual modules.

This view, first added in Neutron 4, is very handy. As with previous versions of Neutron, the Assistant can create impressive results, but certainly isn’t flawless. While this gets better with each iteration, what’s arguably more useful is how Neutron has gotten better at making it easy to adjust and refine the results when Mix Assistant doesn’t quite nail something right away. As with previous iteration too, it’s pleasing how the ‘AI’ aspect of Neutron’s design is something available to use should you wish, rather than being a compulsory part of the software’s workflow.

Somewhat related to this are the new Delta buttons available through the modules. These can be used to isolate the effect Neutron is having on your audio, making it easier to understand exactly what the software is doing, and as such, makes it easier for new users to unpick the workings of what Assistant is up to.

Verdict

Taken alone, Neutron 5’s three new modules, whilst undeniably useful, might not make v5 seem like a must-have, seeing as some of the functionality they offer is widely available in many DAWs. That said, Phase is particularly powerful for electronic producers, and all three devices are slick and well-designed.

The bigger selling point here is the addition of the mid/side and transient/sustain channel modes. These add a lot of power across the board, and for regular users of previous versions, these make the strongest case for upgrading.

There are also plenty of highlights that remain from previous versions too, including Neutron 4’s excellent Unmask module, which helps to get competing track elements out of one another’s way. This is one of the existing elements that benefits most from the mid/side and transient/sustain modes.

Neutron 5 isn’t the cheapest software tool, but considering its array of modules and functionality it feels like a well balanced and reasonable package. Its biggest asset is its ease of use though; thanks to smart design and AI assistance, Neutron is a deep and capable suite of mixing tools that feels useful for musicians from a wide range of backgrounds.

MusicRadar verdict: Neutron's suite of mixing tools are broad enough to work for musicians at all levels, but its accessibility for less-experienced producers is its strongest asset

iZotope Neutron 5: Hands-on demos

iZotope

iZotope Neutron 5: Specifications

• KEY FEATURES: Includes 10 modules and additional hub plugin. Modules: Equalizer, Exciter, Gate, Compressor, Unmask, Sculptor, Transient Shaper, Clipper, Density, Phase
• REQUIREMENTS: VST 3, AU, AAX. Mac: macOS Ventura (13.6.9), macOS Sonoma (14.6.1) Supported on Intel Macs and Apple silicon M-series Macs (native and Rosetta). Win: Windows 10, Windows 11.
• CONTACT: iZotope

Steinberg SpectraLayers Pro 11: What is it?

There are a handful of audio editors that can stray into spectral (that is, frequency-specific) territory – Steinberg WaveLab and Adobe Audition spring to mind. But if you wish to unlock the true potential – and, let’s face it, near magic – of this novel technology, there are only two shows in town: iZotope RX and Steinberg SpectraLayers. 

We looked at the 11th edition of the former in an earlier issue, so now that Steinberg has turned its offering up to 11 too, we thought we’d best take a gander…

Peeling back the layers

Unlike a conventional waveform that shows only how signal amplitude changes over time, a spectrogram visualises both frequency and amplitude by using varying colour and/or brightness to represent amplitude of each frequency at each point in time. SpectraLayers takes this a step further by allowing its spectrogram to be morphed into quasi-3D with a moveable point-of-view, making it easier to read and understand your audio’s spectral makeup.

In line with other spectral editors, SpectraLayers’ tools for selecting time and frequency ranges within its spectrogram are strikingly similar to those found in image editors like Adobe Photoshop: rectangle, marquee, magic wand, etc. SpectraLayers takes the similarity further with the provision of audio layers, each able to be independently edited. 

In essence, layers turn SpectraLayers into a multitrack spectral editor, with big advantages. Notably, audio selections and separated stems/parts/components can sit in their own layers where they can be further processed. 

Steinberg SpectraLayers Pro 11: Performance and verdict

SpectraLayers’ all-new Module Toolbar, which lists all processing modules, provides a much improved workflow over the previous approach. It is somewhat RX-like (as is the new Home Screen), but the list can be filtered using preset Unmix, Utilities and Restoration groups. A nice touch here is that you can also define your own filters containing custom selections of modules.

Also smelling a bit RX-like is the Modules Chain, used for hosting and managing stacks of processing modules. What we particularly like here is that each module in a chain can target a specific layer and/or selection, and can even target layers that will be created by modules positioned earlier in the chain. Modules Chain also sits behind the new Batch Processing feature, defining the processing chain each file will be fed through.

Voice DeClip will be a huge timesaver in film and TV production, where it’s common to be presented with hundreds of vocal takes, any number of which may contain the hard-to-repair crunch of a clipped recording. Voice DeClip’s AI can locate and repair such problems in moments: the sort of AI that’s welcome in our corner of the production world!

There are also a couple of useful new cursor tools. Transfer Brush is a huge time saver, capturing in a single mouse click the procedure of making a selection and cut-and-pasting it to a new layer. The Transient Pencil tool is a bit more specialised, its usefulness largely focussed on creative sound design, although it can help with repairing poor quality audio too.

Unmixing magic

Unmixing, that most impressive ability of spectral editors, relies on neural networks trained to recognise different voices and instruments within a mixed recording. Steinberg’s developers have taken a huge step forward in this area with improvements to the existing AI, and a clutch of new modules.

Unmix Song adds brass to its roster of recognised instruments alongside the existing vocals, drums, bass, guitars and piano. This is more that SpectraLayers’ main rival can recognise, and the accuracy is astonishing. Sure, you may get the occasional stray artefact turning up in the wrong place, but overall the results are clean and eminently useable.

Unmix Drums delivers improved results too, now recognising cymbals as distinct from hi-hats, and with improvements to its understanding of complex rhythms and simultaneous drum sounds. More impressively, you can now train Unmix Multiple Voices to recognise and separate each voice in a recording. Closely related is the new Unmix Chorus module, which separates lead and backing vocals, and Unmix Crowd Noise, ideal for refining and cleaning live recordings. 

As ever, we’re mostly spotlighting the big-ticket items within this review, and there are a bunch of smaller changes and additions to SpectraLayers that add even more power to the platform, such as Mid/Side decoding and per-layer volume automation. 

There is an undeniable convergence with main rival RX, but this is only skin-deep. SpectraLayers 11 retains its own character, and the AI-tech that underpins its most impressive unmixing and noise reduction/removal tricks delivers the best results we have yet heard.

MusicRadar verdict: The combo of powerful, flexible, multi-layered spectral audio editing with cutting edge AI-based neural networks adds up to the best SpectraLayers edition yet.

Steinberg SpectraLayers Pro 11: Hands-on demos

Steinberg

Folia Soundstudio

White Noise Studio

DarkWhite Productions

Steinberg SpectraLayers Pro 11: Specifications

• macOS 11 (Big Sur), macOS 12 (Monterey), macOS 13 (Ventura) or macOS 14 (Sonoma).
• Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows 11 (64-bit).
• CONTACT: Steinberg

Since 2009, ROLI has become something of a byword MPE-based innovation, with uniquely designed instruments such as the La La Land-starring Seaboard offering more dimensions of control to musicians, and acclaim from the likes of Hans Zimmer, Grimes and - ROLI's former Chief Creative Officer - Pharrell Williams. Despite its status as one of the industry’s most celebrated boundary-pushers, the company has faced no shortage of challenges, namely its filing for administration in 2021, forcing a re-brand as Luminary, before a switch back to the original monicker.

As far as its CEO, the inventor and entrepreneur Roland Lamb, is concerned, ROLI is now a firmly re-established company. In his view, ROLI continues to drive a forward-facing path as a beacon for ‘freeing the music’ within people.

ROLI’s recently announced Airwave underlines this philosophy, positioning itself as a revolutionary way of both learning and interacting with music. Harnessing a series of 3D cameras, the device can map the position of the hands , granting further dimensions of expression and intuition.

We spoke to Roland in the wake of the Airwave announcement, intrigued to find out just how the company’s latest venture can ‘free’ the music…

MusicRadar: Hi Roland, the Airwave cements ROLI even further into the music education space that you’ve increasingly become a major player in. Was the Airwave concept envisioned as an educational concept from its inception?

Roland Lamb: “It's an interesting story, because when I first started working on the Seaboard, it really was about ‘how do we bring more expressiveness to piano and digital instruments?’ At that time, I actually looked into computer vision as a way of doing that. It was in the back of my mind as one possibility, but the technology and the processing requirements just didn't seem to be precise at that stage. Especially for understanding very subtle touches and directions. So, I went down the route of exploring more touch-based tech, which led to the Seaboard. But that seed had been planted. Years later I realised there was a key problem [that keyboard/piano learners] all needed to get around - how do you use the right finger at the right time and get good hand posture?.

“I went back to that thought of, what if we could use computer vision? And at this point the tech was actually good enough. It had improved hugely over the years and we were at a a place where all of [what I first imagined] was possible. As soon as I started thinking about that, the question of expression also arose.

"So, yes, we are leaning in on the learning side. But I think what really happened was, as we went further and further in the development of Airwave, we started to think of this technology, ultimately as a platform technology.

“That means that it will have different applications, and learning will be just one application, and expression will be another application. There will be further applications still, because playing any musical instrument is all about your hands, whether you're learning it or you're playing it and creating micro-corrections and more depth. An instrument that can see and understand what you're doing with your hands is a fundamental upgrade.”

MR: With that in mind, I guess there's the novel prospect that a young music learner might start with Airwave and, when they’re ready to begin their artist journey, take it with them into into the creative world as an expressive instrument. I can’t really think of anything comparable…

RL: “Think about an iPad - you don't think the iPad is for ‘learners’ or the iPad is for ‘creators’. It's for everybody. it's a platform set of technology that includes camera, big screen, touch, etc. We now know that on that platform, many different applications can succeed.

“The nice thing about that is you can take your iPad with you through life. I’m actually traveling with my kids now, and when they were really young, they might have used it for games, now they're watching movies, they do their homework on it, and later, they'll do other things. We have the same vision for Airwave. Wouldn't it be amazing start building products that could sit in the living room. Kids could start learning with it, later maybe Dad can do a little bit of music production. As the kids get older, they can also start learning about creation and performance. I’m confident that computer vision is a necessary component for that [idea], and we feel really lucky to be the first people to do it [in our] marketplace.”

MR: Do you think something like Airwave is actually pretty vital for young people today, considering the mass of competing content and time-swallowing activities pulling people away from discovering music?

RL: “Absolutely. I think it's really important to look back, say 40 years ago. We were at a moment where, obviously there were no smartphones, and we had just reached the time of the electronic word processor. When you think of what's happened [over the years] to the electronic word processor, and the number of steps that that it has taken to become a modern laptop, before then moving into smartphones and tablets. But electronic keyboards, I mean, they're better than they were 40 years ago, but are they fundamentally different in terms of design?

“If you look at [the evolution] of gaming, and you look at all the other things that now compete with music that are digital, then it's no wonder that people are spending more time doing those kinds of things because modern digital tools are so well-designed. That's absolutely the aspiration for Airwave, building a modern, natively digital platform for music learning and creation that can basically make variance feel as seamlessly intuitive as so many of the other great digital experiences we have at our fingertips today.”

MR: With innovation in general, it’s surely pretty hard to get people to change the way they approach music, especially for those who’ve been doing it for a long time. How do you intend to sell this vision?

RL: “It's always hard to try to find the right innovation sweet spot, because you can do things that are too far ahead of the market. You can do things where you're really no staying ahead, and you're a couple steps behind. A lot of judgments go into that that are both about medium-term to long-term technology trends as well as the immediate market.

“Obviously, I want to balance all of these and try to get them all right. I think for us, innovation is in our bones. It's our spirit, it's what we do and and we need to make that our competitive advantage. As we've been taking a lot with this little rebrand that we did, bringing together our learning and creation into one platform. We said what we really want to do is ‘free the music’. We want more people to have more opportunities to engage in music.

“When we look at innovation, we have to look at it at two levels. We say, 'what's the platform-level innovation' and then 'what's your product innovation?' We have to try to make sure that our products deliver really deliver good value to our customers on day one.

“We'll be putting out some more videos and tutorials on how to use Airwave in the coming days, [to really help] with learning. We think we can make that easier, more efficient. In terms of existing artists and musicians, though we've been sort of focusing the attention at launch on what you can do with our Airwave player with its own native sounds from Equator (ROLI’s signature synth).”

“Airwave has six dimensions, and those could be mapped to any [software parameter]. That’s going to add a lot of ecosystem value for composers, producers and others. Based on the testing that we've done, we're pretty confident that Airwave’s day one product value will be high.

“But you’re completely right - innovation is hard, and we have tried so many different sort of ways of producing the software and form factors for the hardware, and they haven't all been right. Some of those things you know you have to leave on the cutting floor, but it's who we are and what we like to do. So we try to take it on the chin.”

MR: At your product launch [at London’s Fabric nightclub] one of the slides that you displayed in your keynote really resonated - it was illustrating the idea that so many people out there have music ‘inside’ of them, but lack the ability to unlock it within themselves. Would you say that belief is central to ROLI's mission to ‘set the music free.’ And, do you think that that is something that a lot of people in the industry have kind of lost sight of?

RL: “I don't want to speak in any pejorative way about all the amazing folks who work in this industry, because actually, I think everybody in the music industry wants people to create music. But, I will say that maybe it's easy for companies to get a little bit too zoomed in, if you know what I mean, on one particular customer. Every single person who is a creator was once a learner, and it probably wasn't that long ago. I think that we companies naturally [operate] in micro segments, and it makes for a disconnected, overall musical journey.

“There’s actually very few other companies that have that wider arc. But, when you look more at music tech companies, they pretty much are either looking at learning or looking at creation - and they speak to those audiences in completely different ways. I thought, wouldn't it be interesting to speak to these audiences at a broad level. With one voice? Because actually what's bringing us on the love of music?

“This feels like a moment, like when we launched the first Seaboard where we're doing something that we know is ahead of the market. Because [Airwave] is so intuitive and straightforward and has these values, we really believe that the market will see it and understand it. There's so many releases that happen in the industry which you [at MusicRadar] cover, but are fundamentally the same, slightly repackaged with slightly new features and slightly new configurations, which are important, you know. But I think with products like Airwave, it's obvious we're doing something very, very different.”

MR: So, with Airwave leading the charge, do you hope that the industry takes note, follows your footsteps and develops further tech for music-makers with 3D tracking built-in?

RL “Well, not too soon! I've never figured out how to square the circle on this, because I think, you know, as a CEO, building a business, obviously we want to get ahead and retain our kind of advantages and so forth. But, as as an inventor, many of the things that I have invented have been copied elsewhere, you know, or adapted or changed - which I generally take as a compliment. I think it means that we were on to something.

“We were not the first to be looking at more expressive instruments. Of course, the Haken Audio Continuum came well before us, amongst many others. But, we were really ahead of our time with the Seaboard, and we played a big role in pioneering MPE. Now that’s a well-recognised part of electronic music production.

“Everyone's involved in it and supports it in different ways. We're really proud to have been key pioneers in that process. Similarly, I think Airwave is actually a next generation technology that goes beyond MPE. There's such incredibly valuable features that simply cannot be done without computer vision.”

For more information on Airwave (which launches early next year) and ROLI in general head over to their website.

Furthering its innovative – and education-leaning – remit, ROLI has today announced Airwave, which it describes as a "breakthrough in musical interaction for both music learners and creators."

This new hardware frame smartly re-configures any ROLI keyboard (such as its Seaboard, LUMI Keys or Piano M) into an ‘intelligent piano’, harnessing vision and voice capabilities to make music learning ultra easy, and granting an even wider range of dimensions to explore for its MPE-savvy audience.

“Music learning and playing have been far too difficult for too long: intimidating, expensive, and one-size-fits-all,” states ROLI’s CEO, Roland Lamb. “At ROLI, we are on a mission to free the music, making it possible for anyone to learn the language of music with new digital tools that open up new possibilities of human expression. 

"With recent advances in computer vision and AI, we are finally able to innovate beyond the keys, and can now bring this human-centric technology to music learners and creators alike.”

So, what exactly is Airwave? Ostensibly an aluminium stand for your keyboard, the small frame incorporates IR 170 3D infrared cameras and brand new ROLI Vision technology to map the hands of the player. It tracks each of the 27 joints in the hand, noting the subtle finger movements as they play in real-time.

It takes this data and can build personalised and responsive feedback which ROLI says "invites musicians to play in new, more intuitive ways across many more dimensions." Integration with the ROLI Piano M ($249, €229, £219) and ROLI Learn app ($99.99, €99.99, £79.99 annually) really opens up Airwave as an educational tool.

Fuelling Airwave is ROLI’s Musical Intelligence (MI) platform, which uses the principles of sound, sight and touch as its central pillars - with Airwave adding vision and voice. Future ‘intelligent’ products are set to follow.

On that ‘voice’ front, ROLI’s Piano AI technology draws on large language models to complement its hand-tracking capabilities, responding organically to natural voice commands – and providing a more human form of communication.

As ROLI states: "Ask your ROLI Piano to show you a chord, a full piece of music, or give you some time to level up your playing.”

Airwave looks to be both a unique and potentially game-changing music-learning tool, particularly when coupled with the ROLI Piano M’s light-up keys and instructional learning angle. Alternatively, creative musicians can use work with the expanded dimensions of control to concoct and explore new sonic frontiers: “With the simple raise of their hands, creators can transform a piano into a full orchestra, just as a conductor would,” states ROLI. “Or, morph mellow synth pads into searing leads with a tilt of the wrist."

Acclaim for Airwave has come from some notable names, particularly Fred Again producer Marco Parisi, who states that, “Airwave is a game-changer for creating music and in the way we perform. Every movement and gesture creates a new sound unique to them, which will make music much more expressive, and could even lead to new genres of music.”

We’re keen to see what new genres Airwave unlocks in its user-base. But for now, know that Airwave is shipping in early March 2025, and is available for preorder from ROLI, priced at $299, €299 and £249.

While some would argue that the UK government should be trying to limit the role of AI in the music industry, its Creative Catalyst scheme actively seeks to advance it. 

This comes via Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, and has resulted in the awarding of £1 million in funding to projects that “advance the development of Artificial Intelligence products and services within the global music supply chain which benefit and strengthen the UK Music Sector.”

It’s now been confirmed that one of the six ‘lead organisations’ to benefit from some of this money is AudioStrip, which is focused on “fine-grained music source separation with deep learning models”.

Assessors advised that "this is well planned, resourced and researched innovation that can impact the business, market and wider industry in the field of AI and music separation" and that "the rewards could be significant".

One of the stipulations of the funding is that those who receive it should “collaborate with industry stakeholders to unlock the full potential of AI applications across the value chain, supporting and uplifting the music industry, and driving long term creative and commercial success”. Going forward, AudioStrip will be working with C4DM Queen Mary University of London to create “state-of-the-art” AI music source separation.

Of course, there are several platforms out there that do this already, but AudioStrip says that it plans to go beyond those that can only separate vocals, bass and drums and create something that can identify and isolate more instruments at usable quality. In order to achieve this, it says it will develop advanced machine learning algorithms that can automatically detect musical instruments for high-quality audio source separation.

“This technology is sweeping the music industry,” says AudioStrip co-founder and CEO, Basil Woods. “AudioStrip will offer more advanced tools for precise separation of individual elements in audio files.

“By partnering with Queen Mary, we aim to elevate music source separation technology beyond industry benchmarks, making it an indispensable tool for DJs, independent artists, producers, and licensors.

“Our goal is to automatically identify musical elements from any given song - including vocal, instrumental, drums, bass, piano, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and synthesizer - and extract them into independent tracks without losing quality.”

We're guessing that this is all for the future, but AudioStrip is already up and running and you can try it for free.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University claim to have come up with a new method of pitch correction that’s “more than just Auto-Tune on steroids” and uses AI to “enhance the naturalness and quality of pitch correction, surpassing previous tools.”

Those are some pretty big boasts, but the creators of Diff-Pitcher, as its known, are confident that they’ve come up with a new way of doing things that delivers better results.

Team member Jiarui Hai, a PhD student in the Whiting School of Engineering’s electrical and computer engineering department, says: “Diff-Pitcher is a generative deep neural network that takes pitch correction technology to a new level. Its precision and control can not only help musical artists and producers but also open new possibilities in areas such as voice rehabilitation and assistive technologies.”

What’s different about it, though? The researchers claim that, unlike traditional pitch correction software, which they say is trained on pairs of corrected and original vocals, Diff-Pitcher analyses the spectrogram of the original vocals that need to be corrected. It then identifies target notes, predicts the necessary adjustments and transforms that corrected spectrogram into audio.

“[The results sound] really natural,” says Hai, “and unlike in older ways of fixing pitch, we can still regulate how high or low the voice goes.”

The new technology was presented by Hai and lead researcher Mounya Elhilali, a professor in electrical and computer engineering, at the 2023 IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics last year. They believe that it could have benefits beyond the realms of music production, too: “The technology could revolutionize treatment for a spectrum of speech-related disorders, offering valuable support for post-laryngectomy patients and contributing to the voice rehabilitation of stroke victims,” says Hai.

The world of Max for Live continues to produce hugely powerful software tools for Ableton users to enjoy. One developer that's particularly impressed us with their creations is Fors, a three-person Swedish team producing thoughtfully designed instruments that sound phenomenal. 

Fors' latest release is Opal, a drum synthesizer and sequencer that packs way more functionality and power under the hood than most plugins do. In fact, as a multi-engine synth, sampler and effects processor with a sophisticated onboard sequencer, Opal can do as much as many hardware grooveboxes can.

The device is powered by four synth engines, each tailored towards producing a unique type of sound. While the synths were designed to produce drum sounds, they're more than capable of generating melodies too. Among the four onboard synth engines are Gem, a 2-operator FM synth and Mass, a quirky physical modeling synth. Dust is a noise generator that utilizes pulsar synthesis while Slate is a sample playback engine equipped with the capabilities of a granular synth. 

They each have a dedicated modulation section which can be controlled via four different modulation sources, including velocity, an LFO and envelope for each track, and a randomizer. Opal's 1.2 update introduced modulation locking, which means that modulation can be applied or bypassed on an individual level to each step in a sequence. 

These four sound generators run through two effects, Void and Flux. Void is a reverb tailored to pair nicely with drum sounds, while Flux is a sampler that automatically records the output of all the other tracks so that you're able to slice, repeat and transform it by performing snippets as one-shot samples. 

Opal is outfitted with a sophisticated sequencer that can create complex, evolving and polyrhythmic patterns. Each of its synth engines has its own track within the sequencer, and patterns of up to 128 steps can be dialled in. Each track can play patterns of individual (and uneven) lengths, and each step in the sequencer can hold unique values for any synth parameter. 

You can adjust the probability that an individual step will trigger, set each step to trigger only after a specific number of times the overall pattern has looped, choose how many times a step is repeated (for flams, stutters and triplets) and nudge each step off grid to introduce swing and shuffle. The sequencer reminds us a little of the kind you might find in beloved Swedish manufacturer Elektron's gear, with some interesting additions.

Each of Opal's synth engines and effects comes as a standalone Max for Live device which can be used separately. Opal also comes bundled with a standalone sequencer device, Opal-Ctl, that enables you to use Opal's sequencer to control and modulate other software instruments and external gear.

For those who need a refresher: Max for Live is a feature of Ableton Live Suite that brings the Max programming environment into Ableton, giving developers (and Ableton users) a platform to build, tweak and customize their own instruments, effects and tools for live performance. There's a thriving community surrounding both Max and Max for Live, and there's a variety of excellent tools available to those who wish to explore its potential. 

Earlier this year, Ableton released Building Max Devices, a tutorial pack demonstrating how to develop devices in Max for Live, along with 90 free devices for Ableton Live users to play with. 

Opal is available now for €49.

Find out more on Fors' website, or watch the walkthrough video for Opal 1.2 below.

Today might be the age of the carefully curated pedalboard, but with its convenience, compact form and value, the multi-effects processor is never going to go out of style.

With the advancement of modelling technology and cab sims, today's units have more features than ever. There is some hybrid vigour in multi-effects development, with software-based tech being realised in physical form. 

At this early stage, there is not quite the abundance of options as there are for populating your pedalboard, but the three units we have here offer something for every player. 

We've got a fully-featured budget option in the form of the NUX MG-30, a mid-priced doozy from Zoom, and quite possibly the most-anticipated piece of floor candy of the year, the Neural DSP Quad Cortex. Let's take a look.

Neural DSP Quad Cortex

The Quad Cortex is Neural DSP's first hardware release, and given the quality of its guitar plugins, with some stunning artist collaborations with the likes of Joe Duplantier of Gojira, we are very much looking forward to accessing some of that virtual amp processing power in a floor-based unit.

With its 2GHz Quad-Core SHARC architecture, the Quad Cortex has a lot of juice, and it has a lot of toys for you to play with. Onboard there are more than 50 virtual guitar amplifiers, more than 70 effects plus a thousand-plus IRs. 

Of course, you can capture your own IRs and upload them, or grab some from a third party. You can do it all here. You can even "teach" the unit through its Neural Capture feature.

Navigating all this functionality will undoubtedly be intimidating. Like the Kemper Profiler, the Quad Cortex is a high-end, do-it-all unit. It's for the pros and the serious amateurs, but we can't wait to get our hands on it.

Elsewhere, there are two effects loops, all the I/Os you need and all this from a unit that has a similar footprint to a 15" laptop, and weighing under two kilos. This is a fly-rig you can throw in a backpack.

The Neural DSP Quad Cortex is priced £1,449 / $1,599, with the optional gig case offered for £/$99.

See Neural DSP for more details.

NUX MG-30

With a stack of features and a classy build, the NUX MG-30 might just be the classiest budget multi-effects unit we have seen.

The latest in the MG series has a lot of processing muscle under the hood, with 30 different amp types – 25 for electric guitar, three for bass and two acoustic guitar amp models. 

This being 2021, there are onboard cabinet simulations (choose from eight virtual microphones to "mic" the cab, and three placement options), plus a looper, tuner, expression pedal, and a load of effects. There's even a USB connection so you can use it as an audio interface for recording. 

There's no word on a release date yet but online retail giant Thomann has made the MG-30 available for pre-order, priced £222 / €298.

Zoom G6

The Zoom G6 goes all-in with the amp modelling. Zoom engineers looked at the tonal qualities of the best guitar amps in history, modelled them, and then bundled them in with a heap of effects.

There is something for everyone here. You've got vintage blues amp models, crunchy rock, progressive metal tones... And all in between.

With a 4.3-inch colour touchscreen and drag 'n' drop signal chains, it looks a cinch to use, and it comes preloaded with 70 IRs, 135 effects and 68 rhythm patterns to jam along with. You can upload your own IRs.

Hook it up with Zoom's Guitar Lab software for deep edits. The G6 has room for 240 user patches, including 100 user presets. And you can create patches using up to seven effects. Plus an Infinite Looper provides up to 256 loops with a maximum time of two hours on an SD-card. 

Those dipping their Jazz Nylon III into the home recording game will be pleased to know that the G6 comes with a USB output and Steinberg's Cubase LE software. 

The Zoom G6 is shipping in Spring 2021, priced $399 / £442.

See Zoom for more details.

If there’s one thing we love about the impending Black Friday music deals, it’s that we’re pretty much guaranteed some incredible discounts on music-making software. Plus, thanks to the fact that there’s no physical product to be shipped these days, there’s zero wait-time to get our hands on the ‘gear’.

• Check out the best Waves plugins
• These are the best DAWs, as voted by you!

That said, we haven’t even hit the shopping event of the year yet, and Pro Audio Star is already coming out with its guns blazing, dropping some crazy pre-Black Friday plugin and software deals on premium titles from FXpansion, East West, McDSP and more, with up to 70% discount on some products.

There's a long old list on the site, but we’ve gone through what’s on offer to select some of the best prices we’ve found in the promotion. So, if you’re after new effects, add-on packs or complete virtual instruments this winter, check out the deals below.

Effect processors are essential for all music makers, but if you’re just using them to mix or fix recording issues, you’re missing out on a vast world of sonic creativity. Let’s push those processors to the extremes and see how we can turn simple sounds into something unique. Let’s head down the rabbit hole...

These days, with all the easy-to-use hardware and software music-making tools at our disposal, the creation of electronic music can become formulaic. Lay down beats, add a bassline, program some synths and samples over them, and you’ve got a basic club banger. Effects processors, used in traditional ways, help sweeten and polish those sounds to give you a tune that’s passably functional, but a bit generic.

So how can you push your productions past the formulaic and come up with ideas never heard before? By getting adventurous with sound design, of course! Take time to explore all those processors sitting in your plugins folder, push them to extremes, and you can quickly spin generic ideas into creative gold. 

You don’t need a degree in complex sound synthesis, either – just fire up those processing plugins and morph existing signals! 

Creative effects processing demands a slightly different workflow to traditional synthesis and sampling approaches. When crafting sounds with a synth or sampler, you build every sonic component from the ground up, giving you microscopic control over every aspect of the resulting sound, right down to the harmonic level. This demands a fairly deep level of synthesis knowledge – if you don’t know what you’re doing, things can get messy (or fall apart!) quickly.

Alternatively, if you’re creatively processing existing sounds with effects, you already have some raw material as a starting point, which can guide your decisions and keep you on track. For example, if you’re starting with a sustained vocal sample, and the end goal is a tonal ‘drone’ or FX tone, some of the decision-making is already done for you - it’s just a case of trying out different sound-sculpting treatments over the raw ‘oscillator’ until you end up with something you like. 

On the flipside, extreme effects processing introduces an element of randomness due to the dependence on the input signal. That hypothetical chain of vocal-morphing effects previously mentioned will spit out a completely different outcome when the source sound is replaced with, say, a staccato guitar part or a synth. This can be a good thing when you’re completely devoid of inspiration: fire up a few plugins over a basic raw signal, then flip through effect presets until you stumble upon something that piques your interest.

However, extreme effects processing isn’t just about firing up random presets and hoping for the best. There are a few tried-and-tested techniques that allow you to tear apart the fabric of sound in unorthodox-sounding ways.

Pitch ’n’ time

If your source signal can be likened to a synth’s oscillator, then a good starting point for extreme sonic manipulation would be to transform your audio signal’s timbre at the harmonic level. 

All DAWs provide at least one method for altering the pitch (ie, tuning) and length of an audio file. These processes are designed to be used subtly – for example, when you need to tune and stretch a vocal sample to fit a track that’s at a different key and tempo. Generally, the further you retune and warp audio away from its base pitch and length, the more artefacts (eg, noticeable ‘graininess’ and glitches) are introduced, and though these side effects can sound undesirably unnatural in more traditional scenarios, they can be embraced and harnessed when pushed to extremes.

For starters, try tuning a source signal way, way beyond its original pitch. Transposing a high-pitched sound down by one, two, three or even four octaves will turn it into a deep, muddy, unnatural sound that can act as a blank canvas for drone design. Conversely, tuning a low sound up by a similarly extreme amount will result in a grainy, sinewy signal. Layer up several of these signals, all pitched to different extremities, and you’ll quickly come up with a unique, multi-dimensional wall of sound with a unique edge.

Following a similar strategy, you should also abuse timestretching algorithms by lengthening or shortening audio to unnatural lengths. Extend out short sounds (such as drum hits or vocal syllables) over several seconds; and shrink long, sustained signals down. 

When trying these techniques, you should understand the relationship between pitch and time. Traditionally, a signal’s pitch is inherently proportionate to its length, and most DAWs offer a ‘repitch’ algorithm to keep pitch and time connected, as if you were speeding up or slowing down a record on a turntable. However, you can also unlink the two, and independently manipulate tuning and length. Experimentation is vital: try all the different warping algorithms available, observe the artefacts introduced, and pick the one that best suits the effect that you’ve been going for.

Going granular

The aforementioned pitchshifting and timestretching algorithms all use underlying granular processing to do their thing. In basic terms, this boils down to breaking a signal into microscopic snippets (‘grains’) which are then looped or compressed, then recombined. While DAW warping and stretching is designed to sound as natural as possible, other granular effects harness this technology for more esoteric, unorthodox outcomes – namely the creation of fluffy ‘grainclouds’, smeared drones and ethereal soundscapes. You can find out more about granular synthesis in FM issue 335’s Toolkit feature.

To create a ‘manual’ granular effect with any audio file, wrap a sampler’s loop braces around a tiny segment of a sample, try out the sampler’s various loop-playback modes, apply fades to smooth out clicks, then move or modulate the sampler’s start point around at different rates. If you want to go deeper with granular sample manipulation, try out dedicated granular synths such as Logic’s Alchemy or Audio Damage’s Quanta.

Granular plugins such as Ableton Live’s Grain Delay and Output’s Portal are also powerful creative effects for sound design. These sample small segments of the input signal, then output copies of those grains at different user-defined timings, pitches and random values. 

Creative compression

Dynamics processors such as compressors and limiters are generally used for subtle, transparent levelling and peak control in a mix. OK, so an analogue or analogue-modelled device may occasionally be recruited for its specific colour or tone, but again, this is generally kept to a more subtle amount.

Once you’re familiar with a range of compressors and their controls, however, you can start to apply them in more creative ways. For example, when designing out-there sounds, the processes you apply can create huge jumps and spikes in volume, so a compressor or limiter afterwards can be used to heavily pin down those jumps.

Furthermore, by using a compressor or limiter as a creative, obvious effect in itself, you can dial in everything from forceful pumping to characterful signal-squashing. Take a look at three particular use cases in the video below.