Category: ambient music

Many gamers will cherish that Holiday morn when they opened their presents and discovered the hot new console underneath all that wrapping paper. Of course, the first instinct was to then hook the thing up, press the power button and watch as the console booted up with a start-up animation. In modern times, however, consoles load much faster, making these elaborate sequences largely a thing of the past.

RELATED: 5 E3 Reveals That Launched A Console (& 5 That Broke Them)

It’s a shame because these visual splendors deliver the first impression of a machine consumers paid good money for. Additionally, if the console’s old, they serve as a nostalgic window into a time in gaming history that’s long past.

10/10 Xbox 360 Heralded HD Gaming For Many Consumers

The Xbox 360 beat the PlayStation 3 in the race to the 2005 holiday season, serving as the herald of the HD generation to many consumers. The tagline for the console was “jump in,” and that’s exactly what the opening sequence invites players to do. The camera zooms out and exposes a large sphere coming out of the darkness.

The sphere is then given an X-shaped hole before a green ring reveals the Xbox 360 logo. When the console interface was updated a few years later, the logo was changed to incorporate a bunch of green swirls enveloping the sphere.

9/10 Gameboy Advance Showcased A Huge Leap Over Its Predecessor

Before mobile gaming changed everything, Nintendo had a bit of a stranglehold on the handheld market for years. While the Sega Game Gear boasted color, it just didn’t have the software to back it up. However, the Gameboy’s technical limitations were showing in the years that it was on the market.

The flashy sequence of the GameBoy Advance logo showcases how much of a leap forward it was in the visual and sound department over its predecessor, the Gameboy Color. Several letters sway on the screen to make up the Game Boy logo, accompanied by some nifty sound effects.

8/10 The Sega Saturn Provided A Nice Welcome To 32-Bit Gaming

Often regarded as the console that would eventually doom Sega in the hardware business, the Saturn at least boasted a snazzy start-up sequence. A bunch of small gray polygons come out of the blackness like a swarm of insects to join together before a flashing ray of light reveals the Sega Saturn logo. Simple but effective. It’s as if the console is saying, “Welcome, gamers, to the 32-bit generation.”

While the Japanese boot-up music went for a loud and triumphant track, the American and European music was considerably calmer and more ambient.

7/10 PlayStation 3 Gets Players Ready For A Gaming Symphony

The PlayStation 3 had a very rough start at the beginning of the sixth generation of consoles, with its overpriced tag and underwhelming launch titles turning away consumers. A shame because the console actually delivers a great first impression. Players who turn the console on are greeted with the sound of an orchestra tuning as if preparing for a triumphant symphony of quality titles.

At the climax, the PlayStation 3 logo pops up, and players are tasked with creating or selecting a profile. It prepares players more for cinematic titles such as Uncharted and God of War 3.

While the American Nintendo Entertainment System utilized cartridges, the original Japanese Famicom was a disc-based system that accepted cards. Once players turned the system on, they’d be prompted with a descending sign to insert the disc card into the system. The screen accompanying this request is a shot of outer space while Mario and Luigi run across the area.

Bolstering this sequence is a majestic musical track that puts players in the mood for fun and adventure. This track even made a cameo with a slowed version being played on the browser menu of the Nintendo Gamecube.

5/10 The Sega Dreamcast Swirl Was Downright Ethereal

While it served as Sega’s final foray into the hardware business, fans could at least say that the brand went out swinging. As the console starts up, players are greeted with a small dot bouncing on the screen with ethereal raindrop-like sounds, revealing the letters that make up the Dreamcast logo and forming a swirl.

RELATED: 10 Mistakes That Still Haunt Sega

The color was different depending on the region: orange in Japan, red in America, and blue in Europe. It’s said that the reason for Europe’s change was because the orange swirl looked too similar to the logo for a German company called Tivola.

4/10 Gamecube’s Benign Logo Had Many Secrets

A small cube drops on the screen to form a giant G representing the Gamecube logo to a suitably whimsical track. It’s effective on its own, but the best aspects of this start-up sequence are the secret tracks players can unlock by holding certain buttons on the controllers.

By holding Z on one controller, players are greeted with a squeaky version of the start-up tune that’s finished with the sound of a child laughing. If the button is held on four controllers, the version is done with tycho drums that climax with a kabuki shout.

3/10 Sega/Mega CD Was Paid Homage In A Later Collection

The boot screen for the Sega CD add-on varied from region to region, with the Japanese and European versions retaining the same music track, while NTSC versions went for a completely different approach. The Japanese version shows a bright blue sky as the logo moves around in an elaborate fashion accompanied by upbeat music.

RELATED: 5 Best Sega CD Games (& 5 Worst)

Conversely, the American boot-up showcases the Sega CD logo looming over the Earth with a strangely sinister track. Fun fact: the track that played during the Japanese and PAL start-up sequences was remixed in M2’s Sega Ages Collection for the Nintendo Switch.

2/10 PlayStation 2’s Towers Aren’t Just For Decoration

Sony’s second foray into the console market showcased a bunch of rising towers coming out of the darkness before flashing the PlayStation 2 logo. Players can recall putting in their game and waiting with bated breath to see if the console would read the disc or if they’d be sent to the browser menu.

One neat little touch is that the rising towers actually aren’t just decoration. The console reads players’ memory cards to keep track of how many games they play and how long they play them. Basically, more games mean more towers, and longer sessions mean longer towers.

1/10 The Original PlayStation’s Start-up Is The Most Iconic

Arguably the most iconic console start-up of all time, the original PlayStation’s introduction left its mark in gaming history. Gamers are met with an ambient music track as the black screen illuminates, and the Sony Computer Entertainment logo greets them. If the disc is read successfully, they’re immediately shown the PlayStation logo against a black background.

So quintessential is this boot-up screen that it’s made cameos in other mediums, such as a sly little Easter egg in the Ratchet & Clank film. It even popped up in a short little sequence in Uncharted 4.

NEXT: 10 PlayStation Games That Are Better When You’re An Adult

Welcome back to Essential Listening, a place where we compile all the best new music of the week into the definitive tome of modern music: The Far Out Playlist.

Do you know what I like? Good music. Do you know what we got a lot of this week? Good music. Four different albums could have grabbed Album of the Week, but in the end, it was indie pop duo First Aid Kit who rose above the rest on their new LP Palomino.

The competition was stiff. French new wavers Phoenix returned after half a decade to drop what might just be the most Phoenix-sounding album I’ve ever heard, Alpha Zulu. Also kicking around with solid new albums were Connie Constance and Ezra Collective, two acts expanding what it means to be an indie artist in the modern day.

Just like on the album front, we’ve had some awesome new singles float around the world of music this week. Still, there are only eight songs that can make this list. Here is all the best new music from the week, compiled into The Far Out Playlist.

Best new music, October 31th – November 6th:

Bob Vylan – ‘The Delicate Nature’ (ft. Laurie Vincent)

London-based hip hop duo Bob Vylan have shared a brand new single called ‘The Delicate Nature’. The doomy new offering features Laurie Vincent of Slaves, who also served as the track’s producer. Discussing the origins of the single – which follows the group’s 2022 album The Price of Life.

Featuring Slaves lead singer Laurie Vincent, the aggressive new track buzzes and stirs with a potent blend of high-energy raps and pulsating synth-punk instrumentals. It’s not exactly the highest point of either party’s careers, but it’s a solid addition to both’s discographies nonetheless.

Noel Gallagher – ‘Pretty Boy’ (ft. Johnny Marr)

Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds have released a new single, the atmospheric ‘Pretty Boy’. The new material is arguably one of the darkest songs he’s ever released, driven by an almost motorik beat augmented by a droning bassline and some spooky-sounding keys.

Adding to the excitement is the presence of former Smiths man Johnny Marr on guitar, helping to raise the bar of his friend’s songs yet again. The song is layered and well-produced, as is expected, but musically, it seems as if Gallagher might be about to cast off the Ennio Morricone-inspired work for a new style that foregoes orchestral moves for guitar-driven pieces. 

The Brothers Osbourne and The War & Treaty – ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll’ (Rolling Stones cover)

For whatever reason, a bunch of big names in country music are getting together for a new Rolling Stones tribute album. Stoned Cold Country is set to feature everyone from Steve Earle to Maren Morris, and today, we’re getting our first taste of the LP with a cover of ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll’ from The Brothers Osbourne and soul husband and wife duo The War & Treaty.

The recording sounds like a relaxed affair, with one of the Osbournes calling out for some whisky before the take rolls. The chugging Chuck Berry at the centre of the track remains, but a southern-friend lilt keeps the song from being a straight cover.

Yo La Tengo – ‘Fallout’

Yo La Tengo have just announced the arrival of their brand new album, This Stupid World, alongside its first preview single, ‘Fallout’. Following on from 2020’s five-track ambient effort, We Have Amnesia Sometimes, the new record will mark the band’s 17th studio album. 

‘Fallout’ sets a mystical and reflective tone for the forthcoming album as Ira Kaplan sings: “I want to fall out of time.” Meanwhile, the fuzzy shoegaze-reminiscent guitars create intense energy. Channelling Sonic Youth and The Cure, YLT bring something new to their eternally diverse platter. With this band, you never know whether it will be a folky dreamscape, an uptempo rock-out, or an ambient voyage; quality is the only constant.

Yves Tumor – ‘God Is a Circle’

Yves Tumor has returned with their new single, ‘God is a Circle’. It’s the first track the American songwriter has released since 2021’s excellent The Asymptotical World EP and their recent appearance on Willow’s latest album, Coping Mechanism. A wickedly dark piece wherein the many different layers do the talking, the song is another example of why Tumor is one of the most interesting artists out there. There’s genuine style on show here, which few current artists can claim to espouse.

You never know what artistic route they’re going to take, as Yves Tumor’s meandering yet relatively short back catalogue reflects. From the impressionistic collage of 2016’s Serpent Music to the heady masterpiece of 2018’s Safe in the Hands of Love or the industrial/shoegaze mesh of The Asymptotical World, which boasted the tremendous ‘Katrina’, Tumor loves to keep us on our toes, and that’s what they’ve done with their latest offering. 

Future Islands – ‘Last Christmas’ (Wham! cover)

It’s officially the first week after Halloween, so you know what that means: it’s Christmastime! Sure, the leaves may still be on the trees, and there still isn’t any snow to be found (unless you’re way up north), but according to our consumerist society, it’s officially time to break out the trees and get the gift-giving juices flowing.

One artist that has been waiting a while for this moment (not named Mariah Carey) is Baltimore synth rockers Future Islands, who have been sitting on a cover of Wham’s holly-jolly classic ‘Last Christmas’ for what I can only assume has been far too long. Now that October is officially in the past and pumpkins are officially thrown in the trash, now is the perfect time to get a jumpstart on the winter season.

The Antlers – ‘Ahimsa’

Brooklyn indie rockers The Antlers have returned with a brand new song for the tail end of 2022. While the band usually works in the indie pop/dream pop world, their newest track, ‘Ahisma’, is as folky as an indie rock song can possibly be.

About as relaxed and country-fried as a song could possibly be, the sparse arrangement keeps all of the song’s delicate elements in place. Even the slightest increase in volume could bring down the entire operation, with pedal steel guitar, delicate piano, gently shuffling drums, and Peter Silberman’s light-as-air voice all floating throughout the track. It’s an achingly beautiful song, one with a timeless message at the heart of it.

Animal Collective – ‘Crucible’

Animal Collective don’t exactly seem like the first group that comes to mind when you need to score your black, gay Marines movie. But for the new A24 film The Inspection, the Baltimore experimental pop heroes are doing just that. AC are partnering up with some of their pals for the soundtrack, including Indigo de Souza, but the first preview track is all them: ‘Crucible’.

Featuring the same wave of wonky sounds and blissful harmonies that we’ve come to expect from an Animal Collective track, it’s hard to see such a bizarre song working in the context of the relatively straightforward movie. I saw a preview of The Inspection a couple of days ago and did not recognise any Animal Collective music in the trailer, but hey, here’s to trying new things.

Pioneered by the likes of Philip Glass and Brian Eno, ambient music is as much about creating mood as it is about creating melody. 

Fortunately, computer users can now call upon an arsenal of ambient-friendly production tools – MusicRadar is here to explain what they are and how to use them.

1. General inspiration and sources

1. If all the soft sounds and smooth vibes get a little too much, try some juxtaposition. Ambient heroes The Orb are fond of this technique, and whether it’s a squealing guitar, devastating synth hit or ridiculous vocal sample, they’re not afraid to toss something a little unusual into the mix.

2. Getting off-the-wall sounds doesn’t have to involve spending hundreds on sample downloads and libraries – there are plenty of interesting sounds happening all around us all the time. If you’ve got a mic and a laptop – or any portable recorder – take a field trip and record some of nature’s bounty. Running water’s always good for a laugh, but remember: your equipment should stay dry, even if you don’t…

3. Second-hand record shops are great places to find sounds. You may even find that your local charity shop has an untapped collection of oddities just waiting to be snapped up by the enterprising samplist. From records featuring nothing but steam engine noises to children’s story albums, there’s an abundance of weirdness out there for the taking.

4. Samples are a constant source of inspiration, but it’s easy to discount one because it doesn’t fit the feel of your track when you first try it. If you’re short on fresh ideas, try running short bursts of a sample through a delay effect. Using this method, it’s possible to come up with some great abstract noises that sound nothing like the original source material.

5. If your tracks are jam-packed full of synthetic-sounding virtual instrument patches and everything’s starting to sound too ‘computery’, consider bringing in some natural sounds or using a few real instrument parts. Even if they’re from ROMplers, it should help take some of the unnatural edge off.

6. Recordings of natural sounds such as rainfall, waves, wind and fire are great for filling out a mix because they’re basically noise, and as such, they have a wide range of frequencies. They shouldn’t be too loud or they’ll overpower the mix, but use them with care and they can be extremely useful.

7. Noise is a useful synthesis tool – if your synth features a noise oscillator, you can use it with a fast-attack amplitude envelope to create your own percussion sounds. This sounds artificial, but in a lo-fi way, and works especially well when teamed with a high-quality reverb.

8. If you’re using long, sustained sounds, such as pads, your mix can lack movement if these elements are too static. By subtly altering tuning, pulse width or filter cutoff over time, you can create more organic sounds that will enhance the mix rather than make it sound lifeless.

9. If you’ve got a sample that you want to play for longer than its duration, you have two basic options: you could timestretch it, which will most likely introduce unwanted audio artifacts, or loop it. Crossfade looping is the best way to get seamless loops, but if this isn’t possible, you can recreate the effect yourself by fading between two audio tracks in your mixer.

10. To make a pad sound particularly evocative, try modulating the filter cutoff with a shallow LFO as well as a big, sweeping envelope. This will give the sound a great deal of movement and works superbly when combined with a delay effect.

11. When working with vocals, you can have a lot of fun with pitchshifting. When pitching vocals around, it helps to use a plug-in with a formant control – this helps vocals retain their characteristics or, conversely, can be used to alter them radically. 

12. With modern audio sequencers, it’s easier than ever to cut up vocals and other rhythmic sounds in order to fit them in with the groove of your track. When cutting sounds up in your sequencer, remember to zoom in to make sure you’re cutting the file at a point where the amplitude is zero – otherwise known as a ‘zero crossing’.

13. When deploying your newly-sliced rhythmic samples, it’s not always best to have your sequencer’s snap control active. You might find that pulling samples forwards along the track a little makes them fit in better with the rest of the groove, and having the snap control turned off also makes programming human-sounding rhythms easier.

14. Silky bass guitar tones are a common sound in ambient dub, but if you don’t have a real bass guitar to hand, you’ll have some trouble getting the same smooth sound. Try one of the virtual bassists or ROMplers now on offer – Toontrack’s EZbass (opens in new tab) is a great tool, for example, as is IK’s Modo Bass (opens in new tab).

15. Whether you’re composing in stereo or surround, it’s important to use the available panoramic space properly if you want to create a sense of size. If your track has drums, you’ll probably want to pan these around the centre, but with synths and effects you can afford to use the space more creatively, so try panning them around.

16. Most DAWs have simple pan controls that only enable you to pick one position in the stereo panorama. If you’re looking for slightly more control, a stereo imaging plug-in can be used to control the position and filter setting of each channel or tweak them as a mid/side pair, respectively.

2. Reverb

17. Reverb is one of the most important tools you have for creating a sense of space, so if you’re making ambient music, it pays to take the time to get it as sweet as you can. A good start is to use a high-quality reverb, and there are a few free ones well worth investigating – try Valhalla’s SuperMassive or Space Lite, for starters.

18. It can be tempting to just stick reverb on a few tracks and leave it at that, but that wouldn’t be using this powerful effect to its full potential. Using high damping values, large room sizes and long reverb times will create a big sound that, when combined with judicious EQ, can create a ‘far away’ kind of effect.

19. When using reverbs, if you want to create a softer, more ethereal effect, use less of the dry signal in the output. You can do this by turning the wet/dry ratio up, or, if you’re using a send effect, by setting it to pre-fader and turning the source channel’s main volume level down.

20. If you’d rather have a brighter, closer effect, then make the reverb’s damping less severe, reduce the room size and turn down the delay time. This works especially well in conjunction with stereo enhancer effects such as the Voxengo Stereo Touch plug-in.

21. Many interesting effects can be created by rendering out reverb and delay tails minus the original dry sound, then applying creative processing to the tail. Filters work particularly well for this kind of thing and, once processed, the new sound can be played back alongside the original version, or replace it altogether.

22. Finally, when programming synth patches, don’t discount the creative potential of your instrument’s reverb section. With a long, lush reverb, even the smallest synth squelches or blips can be turned into pleasingly tonal atmospheric effects. Of course, if your synth effects truly suck, you can always use a separate reverb or delay plug-in instead to create the same effects.

3. Delay

23. Delay is a pretty common effect in atmospheric music like ambient, but for ambient dub, a full-on feedback delay, such as Ohm Force’s excellent OhmBoyz effect, is just the thing.

24. Dynamic use of feedback delay is useful for creating long, evolving rhythmic effects. By automating the feedback control on a delay plug-in, you can build to a crescendo or create weird rhythmic effects.

25. Getting that distinctive morphing dub delay effect can be done by adding either a filter or distortion component to the feedback loop – easily done in OhmBoyz, as it has both. If you’re using a delay effect in Reaktor or another modular environment, you can add these elements yourself, though it’s advisable to put a level limiter after them to ensure the feedback doesn’t get out of control.

26. Delay effects work well before a reverb, though too much of either will swamp the mix. However, it’s possible to tame these effects with automation – set the reverb’s wet level to 0%, automating it so that it comes up as the end of the delay tail is playing. This way, you’ll be able to use both the delay and the reverb, without having too much of either going on at once. 

As an advanced alternative, you could use sidechain compression to duck the start of the reverb (using the source signal as the key input), and setting the release time appropriately, thus achieving the same effect automatically.

Electronic musician, label head and developer John Howes’ music lives on the boundary between chaos and control. 

On the one hand, his work is largely produced using systems and tools of his own design: rhythms and notes are generated using Strokes, a sequencing environment he’s developed, synth patches are meticulously constructed on his Nord Modular G2 and Elektron Machinedrum, while parameters are modulated using another self-built software tool, the global modulation matrix Dispatch. If he discovers a plugin or an instrument that sounds intriguing, unlike many of us, his inclination isn’t to buy it – it’s to build his own version, often creating something new and unexpected in the process.

Though he’s rigorous in his command of the creative process, Howes tells us, it’s when he begins to let go that the magic happens. Captivated by the limitless potential of generative music-making, he carefully integrates elements of chance and indeterminacy into these highly structured systems, exploring the musical possibilities presented by implanting ghosts in his machines – cybernetic, semi-autonomous agents that possess what he’s called “lo-fi AI”. 

His latest release, a self-titled project under a new alias, derives its name from Paperclip Maximiser, a thought experiment that envisions how an AI tasked solely with manufacturing paperclips could run out of control and inadvertently kill us all in the process, were it not instilled with some form of self-correcting, machine-based ethics. 

Thankfully, the AI-powered tools used to produce Howes’ latest release, Paperclip Minimiser, haven’t yet threatened us with extinction: instead, they’ve helped him record some of the best experimental music we’ve heard this year. Across eight untitled tracks, the project explores the outer reaches and inner depths of electronic esoterica, venturing through dubwise techno abstraction, Hassell-esque fourth-world sonics and corrosive machine jams of the highest order. 

We caught up with John Howes to hear more about the ideas behind his new record, the music software he’s developed as Cong Burn, and his fascination with the Nord Modular. 

How did you get into music-making initially?

“I started making tunes on PlayStation 1 and cracked software, FL Studio on PC. When I moved to Manchester when I was 18 I got into a bit more and started buying equipment – drum machines and effects and modular stuff, and now I’m kind of in between all of it. I’m still using all these things – not so much cracked software, though [laughs]. But still torn between the world of drum machines, synths, hardware, and software.”

When did you set up Cong Burn and what were you setting out to do with the label?

“Basically, all of my friends make tunes but none of them were putting any of it out. I’d had a couple records out, and I knew the good and bad sides, and the things that my friends would and wouldn’t want to do in the music industry. So as a safe way of getting their music out, I started releasing their stuff. Originally it was meant to be a radio show, where we used to rent the studio and we’d get together and record stuff. It was supposed to be a monthly radio show, but we did it once and it took three months. [laughs] So we ended up doing tapes, then started doing 12”s and parties and stuff. It all grew out of like three or four friends from the Northeast, where I’m from, then it just grew and grew, and people have come and gone along the way.”

When did you start getting into development?

“When I was at uni I made a bunch of Max for Live devices. I had one of those Eurorack converter things where you can send CV out. I didn’t have a lot of money, as a student, so I was making LFOs and sequencers in Max that would output CV into my modular, basically as a way of saving money. And then I didn’t touch it for five or six years.

“I worked in the music industry for five years, and I got to the stage where I was like, the next job that I get in this industry is going to be working on stuff that I don’t give a shit about. Mainstream, money-making, business techno or pop music type of thing. So it was like, I guess I’m at the end of my road here. I just left the music industry completely, didn’t put out a record or do any work on music for about a year, and studied coding. Then, the first job that I got in coding was for Behringer. So I kind of went straight back in.”

Where did the idea come from for Strokes, the new plugin you’ve developed?

“I was reading a book about Jaki Liebezeit, the drummer from Can. He’s an absolutely sick drummer, and he’s got this really repetitive style, with really complex rhythms. I wanted to make music that sounded like that, but I didn’t want to program it in MIDI clips in Live, it’d take fucking ages. So I started looking at these ways of devising rhythms, and came across Euclidean rhythms. 

“When you look at the stuff Jaki was doing, he never says the word Euclidean, but it’s all there – all of it is about mathematical relationships, and the diagrams he’s drawn are Euclidean rhythms, he just didn’t call them that. So I started working on it mainly as a way of generating interesting drum patterns that constantly evolve. 

“Before I started working on it, I used to be into Eurorack stuff, I had this big Eurorack system made of all Doepfer stuff. I used to build mini versions of Strokes on that. I made a hardware version, years and years ago, and had this whole system patched for a year, and was constantly generating stuff with it. Then I turned it into a Max thing, later on, and it’s been in development for nearly four years now. It started as a small thing to generate rhythms, and it’s grown into a full-on sequencing environment. Pretty much all the music that I’ve made in the past three or four years has started with it in some capacity.”

Tell us about the other plugin you’ve worked on, Dispatch.

“Ableton doesn’t have a proper patch bay, but Bitwig has a global modulation system. You can stack modulators on top of each other, so you can have an LFO and a sequencer both on the same dial. Ableton doesn’t let you do that stuff, so Dispatch basically started out as a matrix mixer, where you can hook up four live LFOs into a matrix mixer, and then mix those LFOs into four different destinations. 

“That was version one, and I used that for ages. I sent it to a couple of people who were like, this is cool, but I don’t want to make four LFOs every time I use it. So I started to think then about how I would design my own LFOs, and what would I want those LFOs to look like? Serge stuff was a big influence on the modulators. The Dual Universal Slope Generator is like the rise and fall generator, basically. You can do exponential versus linear curves and stuff like that, and that’s all taken from Serge modular stuff. 

“It started out as a mixer, and then I ended up adding modulators to it. From there it grew to having MIDI input and output, audio input and output, and became like a MIDI-to-CV converter. I kind of use it on everything, but only a little bit. It’s a useful tool to have. If you’re modulating a filter in Live, and you want to modulate a hardware filter, you can hook it up to Dispatch and get the exact same CV signal sent out, and patch it in. It just seemed like a big gap in Ableton that they didn’t have this thing figured out yet.”

Is Bitwig your DAW of choice, then?

“No, I’m still using Ableton actually. I use it in quite a limited capacity. I don’t use any of the built-in synths, but I use a lot of the built-in effects. The more I learn about old bits of hardware and stuff – I’ve been researching old Prophet samplers, like the 2002, which I’m pretty sure Monolake had back in the day. Then when you learn about that, and then you look at Live’s Sampler, it’s like, oh man, these are exactly the same! 

“The Live Sampler has all the features of this Prophet 2002 which Robert Henke had back in the day. Things like zero-crossing the sample points and loops, things like that. Ableton’s cool because it’s kind of like having Robert Henke’s old studio in software. [laughs] So I mostly use Ableton as a recorder, and a modulation matrix type of thing. I generate most of my sounds using hardware.”

Tell us about the new record. What’s behind the decision to release under a new alias?

“It’s quite different to a lot of the previous things that I’ve done, in terms of process. The reason that I put it under this new name is that, at the core of all the tracks on this new record, I’m into the idea of trying to put semi-artificial intelligence into the generative system. 

“Most of the music that I make comes from complex generative systems made using Strokes, Dispatch and other bits of equipment. But in the techniques that I use on this record, the focus was on trying to give each voice or each section of a track its own space, almost like it’s an actor in a play, or something like that. Almost like Curb Your Enthusiasm ambient music, where everything knows where it’s going, but as soon as someone actually hits play, you don’t know exactly what the results are gonna be. 

“The idea is that all the instruments, all the voices and all the parts all listen to each other and respond to what each other are doing. But also they have to have their own intelligence in a way, they make their own decisions. That’s where the name comes from. It’s called Paperclip Minimizer. Paperclip Maximizer is this thought experiment about an AI that is given the job of making paperclips and destroys the universe. So this is a self-deprecating name, where it’s struggling to make ambient music. [laughs]”

“The core of it is, I try to build these systems where each voice or each actor has its own decision-making abilities. You can see this in Strokes. The Shares module in Strokes has this stuff built into it, but it’s a simple lofi version of an AI Markov chain, where the input is constantly feeding into the next step. It counts the note triggers on every single channel, then you can set a designation of how much you want on each channel, and over time, that designation will change. So if you set all the faders to 50% and hit play, that’s when you get this feeling like there’s a ghost in the machine. You’ll have loads of snares for a second, and then that will trigger the snares to stop and the hi-hats to start… once the system’s moving, that’s when I find the most interesting results.”

What is it about using generative methods you find so stimulating?

“One of the things that I find really special about it is that I don’t know the outcomes before they occur. So when I’m listening to things, and I’m recording these jams, I’m experiencing them for the first time. In my older work, I would just record these flashes of like: this is starting to sound good, so I’ll hit record. Then the album would be like a collection of these six-minute long recordings of longer jams where everything seemed to land right. 

“But it’s kind of moved on from there now, where the reason that I’m using generative systems now is that I’m a control freak and I want to know everything that’s going on. I’m not a very good collaborator, so I’ve kind of built these systems where I have five collaborators in a track for different instruments, or different voices that are all connected, and I can kind of jam with the machines instead of having to jam with people. [laughs]”

As if the machines are improvising with you?

“Exactly. Give them a little bit of room where they can do their own thing, but it’s all part of a really structured system. I used to have a modular system that I performed live with for two or three years. It had three different voices going into it, was 84 HP, it was dead small. But I knew the synth so well that I could hear the sound in my head just by looking at it. It’s kind of similar with Strokes and the systems I have going on now. I can tell you 90% how it’ll sound without hitting play, but it’s that final 10%…”

You’ve described the set-up you used for this release as an ‘authentic 2006 studio.’ Were you intentionally trying to place yourself in a different era?

“Not consciously, but it is true that a lot of the music that I was listening to during that period was from the early 2000s. Süd Electronic, Mille Plateaux, Raster-Norton and Source Records, these sorts of labels. It’s more of a funny coincidence than it is anything deliberate. I use all sorts of different equipment, although the core of the record was made on a Nord Modular, Machinedrum and Monomachine, I do have some other bits around that sometimes filter into it. And still use the occasional plugin, very occasionally. So yeah – it’s not by design, not intentional, but it’s there.”

You’ve mentioned that you mostly used the Nord Modular G2, what is it about this synth that you found inspiring?

“Oh, man. The Nord lets you design your own drum machines, synthesizers, effects and sequencers. It’s almost like VCV Rack, but the modules haven’t been updated for 15 years. With the Nord, I get the sense that they threw everything they had into it. All the best engineers were working on it, and they basically went bust trying to make it. The amount of engineering expertise that went into this machine made it one of the best machines out there. All of the oscillators, all the tools, everything sounds great. 

“There’s just enough in there that you could spend your entire life digging into these things. Now that I’ve got it, I kind of don’t want to buy any more equipment ever again – every synth that I want, I can just try and make it on the Nord. So I’ve got a Lyra-8 that I made in there, and I’m gonna make a Bastl softPop tomorrow. A lot of the time a new synth’ll come out, but rather than having to spend any money and buy it, I can try to build a close approximation on the Nord and usually end up somewhere else that I didn’t expect.

“It’s not an easy machine to use. It’s hard to describe, but it feels like you go to work every time you use it. When I bought it, I knew this machine was gonna take over, so I basically booked like two months off, and Monday to Friday, nine to five, I was working on the Nord. The reason that I got it in the first place is that all the patches are shared online, so I was going to dig through some online stuff and use it as a prototyping machine. Dig through the history of the Nord and all the things people built with it and see if there’s any stuff in there that I can take inspiration from for the next Strokes, or the next Dispatch. 

“So I bought it as a prototyping environment, and that’s the reason why I spent two months learning it. And I still know 10% of what that machine is capable of. It’s insane. I wouldn’t recommend that everybody pick one up because they’re really expensive and really temperamental, but yeah – holy shit, man, this machine. It’s the end game at the minute.”

You also mentioned both the Machinedrum and Monomachine. Are you a big Elektron fan?

“The Monomachine and the Machinedrum, I didn’t use a ton. I didn’t use any of the internal sequencers on either of them. A lot of what I was doing was building sequences on the Nord and sending that out to the Machinedrum and Monomachine. The Machinedrum, I’ve had a couple of them over the years, and they’re amazing. 

“It’s one of those things where I get one and I’ll use it for a year, get sick of the sound of it, and sell it or put it on the shelf. I’m not as interested in the new stuff, but the Monomachine, and the Machinedrum especially – it’s basically a modular synth, you can do a ton of internal routing stuff. Tracks that control other tracks, tracks that are follower tracks to other tracks that’ll take trigger information. 

“There’s infinite things you can do. It’s similar to the Nord in that it’s an open box and you can do what you want with it. Simple tools that you can patch together in really crazy ways. I’m not as deep into the Monomachine, I’m not as keen on the synth engines. I don’t use either that much anymore, to be honest, since I’ve got the Nord. I’ve got close approximations of all the Machinedrum and Monomachine voices that I’ve built myself inside the Nord. Other things are slowly getting pushed out. Maybe in ten years, it’ll just be 10 Nord Modulars. [laughs]”

We’ve covered hardware, but which software tools do you find the most inspiring?

“I generally keep things really simple. I don’t get too lost in the world of plugins. I have a couple of presets for a couple of effects that I’ve used. On this new record there’s an Eventide plugin that I used that I had one preset for, and it’s on half the tracks on here. But yeah, largely, I don’t use other people’s stuff. I try to use my own things, or I try to use Ableton stock stuff. If there’s a thing out there that I want, a Max thing that I think is cool, I’ll just build it myself, and make my own version of it. 

“I don’t generally look for new equipment anymore. If something new and interesting comes along, I’ll just try and do it myself. With the plugin stuff, I’m kind of fairly comfortable with building other people’s stuff, whatever it is. DSP is something I’ve not got massively into yet, but that’s probably going to be the next thing.”

Which other artists would you say have been the most influential on your work?

“When I’m actually working on music, I generally don’t listen to anything else. One of the differences on this new record is that I basically shut myself off from all music culture – no Boomkat, no Discogs, no social media – I was trying to stay disconnected as much as possible. So when it actually comes to working on music, I’ll shut everything out. 

“I don’t mean for a couple of hours, I mean for two weeks I’ll listen to no music other than my own, and sit and work on my own stuff, and then reinstall Instagram after that’s done and get back to normal life, or whatever. But I’m trying to cut off any kind of external influence that might occur. I still listen to music during those periods, but it’s wildly different music. I’ll listen to All Trades on NTS or something that’s totally unrelated – just so that nothing can filter in.

“In terms of musical artists that have had an influence on me, it’s difficult to say. There’s been so many over the years, like O Yuki Conjugate, and the club night meandyou., which is run by Lyster, Herron and Juniper. I’d say right now, my Cong Burn mates and the extended universe of people that send us music is pretty much all I’m really interested in musically.

“About two years ago, we subconsciously started only playing new music on the Cong Burn show, or like 90% new music. And that kind of led to people sending us more music, and one thing led to another, and now we’re getting sent loads of really, really sick music every month, from people like Rastegah and oh!t. It’s like nothing else that’s out there at the minute, and that’s super inspiring. But likewise, I don’t try to make music for that radio show, or anything like that. I’m trying to put off influence as much as I am taking it in.”

Paperclip Minimiser is out now on Peak Oil. 

Strokes and Dispatch are available to purchase from Cong Burn’s website. 

A change is good as a rest, we are informed. Several years ago, Dublin-based Shell Dooley, guitarist with Irish indie-pop band Montauk Hotel, took sanctioned periods of leave of absence from that band and started to collaborate with Reykjavik-based pianist and music teacher Luke Duffy on, as they say, something completely different.

Dispensing with jangly 1980s guitar pop that made Montauk Hotel such a good place to visit, for Variant Sea Dooley fashions textured, multi-layered guitars that knit with Duffy’s musical preferences, which veer towards Icelandic neo-classical composers Olafur Arnalds and Johann Johannson, and that island’s somewhat more vigorous ambient soundscape group, Sigur Ros. The blend of each musician’s skills is equally potent and poised, the kind of post-rock that doesn’t so much scare the horses as leads them to the hitching post and tethers them to it with a tender tugging of the knots.

The pair’s debut album (which follows their 2021 single, Wayfare, chosen for various “not exactly classical” streaming platform playlists) makes its presence felt but without the usual competing struggles for sonic one-upmanship. The luxurious pace is set by the likes of Submerged, Threads, Cradle, Undone and Awaken, each of which could give any ambient/neo-classical creator a graceful run for their money. Indeed, the title of the final track could well be the one-word review, if ever such a ridiculous notion arose: Bliss.

Norm Chambers, the Seattle-based musician behind projects such as Panabrite, Jürgen Müller, Spiral Index and N Chambers, has died aged 50.

A friend of the artist Pete Prezzano, co-founder of Chicago label Love All Day which released several of Chambers’ albums, revealed in 2019 he was suffering from a rare form of sinus cancer, setting up a crowdfunder to pay for his care and treatment.

An update on the page announced his death on Monday, writing: “With great sadness I must report that around 1:30 PM today our dear friend Norm Chambers passed away at home, surrounded by his loved ones.

“Norm was a brilliant composer, sound designer and musician. He was an ardent, lifelong record collector, DJ and listener. Norm was also a talented graphic artist and designer. He was a true outdoorsman—enjoying hiking, cross-country skiing and camping. He adored his dogs. Above all, Norm was an ever-loving partner to his wonderful wife Kayoko.”

Chambers grew up in Salt Lake City before later settling in Seattle. He was a prolific musician who released numerous albums across his various aliases, and was a member of the groups Soft Mirage, with Christian Richer, and Water Bureau, with Daryl Groestch.

He was revered for the experimental and ambient sounds he was able to produce from analog instruments, as well as being an illustrator who often designed the artwork for his releases.

Panabrite was first and most prolific project, releasing his debut album ‘Paramount Hexagon’ in 2009.

One album, 2011’s ‘Science of the Sea’ under his Jürgen Müller alias, was presented as an archival find from the early ‘80s made by a German scientist and self-taught composer who had been studying oceans.and made music symbolic of his love of marine life.

Prezzano’s announcement concludes: “It was Norm’s music, and records more generally that brought me to know him some 15 years ago. I’m deeply and truly grateful for having made that connection. He relentlessly pursued new pathways and forms in sound, but did it in such a relaxed and unassuming way. It will always serve as a model to me on how to approach art and life in general. Even as he faced serious health issues, he continued to do what he loved with good humor and grace, and he never gave up. Everyone loved Norm’s early music, but he was never satisfied to go on repeating himself; always searching for unknown and fascinating terrain. I’ve learned so much from him, and am proud to have called him my friend.

“From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of Norm and his family, I thank you all for your support. I loved Norm very much and I know you did too.”

Foreign Family Collective signee obli celebrates the delivery of his latest release on ODESZA’s famed electronic imprint.  Out now, “Deeper” is a fine exemplification of obli’s flourishing sonic profile that exudes an air of simplicity and contains many dynamics.

Opening with soft-synth piano chords and breakbeat percussion, obli starts his latest track “Deeper” off with a warm and inviting atmosphere. Blending arpeggiating melodies across the lead-in, a soulful vocal sample draws listeners in ahead of a deep percussive, yet ambient display of obli’s production proficiencies in contemporary electronic music.

Produced with intention surrounding the spontaneity of music creation, “Deeper” is the first track off of a forthcoming Foreign Family Collective EP that’s centered around initial inspiration. Where musicians can often mold an initial feeling that inspires a track, obli has set forth to preserve that emotion in hopes that listeners will share the same feeling.

A true multi-instrumentalist with a tenure working with top names in the business, Chris Null has spent years of his career touring with the likes of Sonny Moore a.k.a Skrillex, and playing guitar for GRAMMY® Award-nominated superstar Julia Michaels.  

His origins in alternative, indie, electronic, rock and pop music have set the foundation for him to build his current solo-project obli.  Inspired by the likes of Four Tet, Bonobo, and Joy Orbison, he obli accesses a cinematic level of emotion as he layers vocal samples above the living and breathing soundscapes he handcrafted.

With more new music on the horizon, obli’s latest release “Deeper” foreshadows a new era of music soon to come on ODESZA’s Foreign Family Collective imprint. 

Connect with obli: Instagram | Soundcloud | YouTube | Twitter | Spotify |

It’s been an exciting 12 months in the world of music software. We’ve seen major updates to some of the biggest titles, more virtual instrument releases than ever before, and the growth of AI, making previously difficult music production tasks easy for everyone to do. 

For this Black Friday wishlist we’ve picked ten highlights across a wide range of applications; indeed our choices pretty much cover every element of a virtual band, plus the DAW to record it and the pro application to master the results! 

We’re not saying that all of these will appear in this year’s Black Friday plugin deals (although some of them are being discounted as we write this) but here’s hoping, because these are the best software releases of 2022, and everyone likes a bargain…

If you are in the market for a DAW – the core application in any computer music studio that allows you to put songs together – then they don’t come much more respected than Steinberg’s Cubase. Version 12 sees the software mature to almost perfect ripeness, shaking off its last main annoyance – the old dongle-based licensing system has now thankfully gone. Raiser (a limiter) and FX Modulator (a multi-effect) are the new plugin highlights, and the DAW’s extended ability to confer with external MIDI hardware controllers is another. But really it’s the years of engineering that stand out. This DAW is streamlined, efficient and exudes confidence. But it does cost, so we think there’s room for a Black Friday saving or two across the three tiers available.

Read our full Steinberg Cubase 12 Pro review

EZdrummer is all things to all producers who want to make beats… without a drummer. The core package contains just about everything you could ever wish for in terms of styles and sounds. But EZdrummer is not just about arranging a few beats in a simple sequencer – although you can do that if you want; it’s about creating the most realistic and nuanced drum patterns for entire songs, without lifting a drumstick. You get seven quality kits, tons of MIDI grooves to do the heavy lifting, and around 15GB of drum and percussion sounds. It’s how to put it all together that really counts, and that can be anything from using Tap2Find, to match your ideas with EZD’s suggestions, to the Bandmate feature which completes rhythm tracks from just one of your riffs. No drummer? No problem. Got a drummer? Time to have a word…

Read our full Toontrack EZ Drummer3 review

V-Collection is like the entire history of classic keyboards… on your hard drive, and ready to access and play whenever you want. Now at v9, you get 33 of said instruments as software emulations plus over 9,000 sounds to play with. There are classic analogue synths – Prophets, Korgs, Yamahas and ARPs – alongside famous digital keyboards. You also get pianos, organs and quirky digital samplers that you think might not work in software (they do). V9 even adds completely new (and actually quite good) string and vocal instruments because, well why not? €599 is not much for all of this (the instruments cost around ten times more if bought individually) but we hear you; it’s a lot to splash out in one go these days so fingers crossed for Black Friday. Who knows what could be added to your collection?

Read our full Arturia V-Collection 9 review

If you’d rather not go for ‘quantity’ – Arturia’s V-Collection can be rather overwhelming in its girth – then why not just go ‘quality’ instead? The Moog Minimoog is widely regarded as the best synthesiser ever made – or at the very least, the most influential. And rising star of the software world, Cherry Audio, has created quite possibly the best ever emulation of it. Miniverse copies all of the quirks of the original synth but adds modern sensibilities like presets and MIDI control. We think it’s a classic re-enactment and as cheap as it is, everyone likes a bargain, and everyone deserves a Minimoog.

Read our full Cherry Audio Miniverse review

One of the most enticing software subscription services around is Roland’s Cloud. It gives you just about the best renditions of Roland’s classic instruments in software, plus a whole lot of other add-ons and sound packs. You get vintage models superbly rendered like the  TB-303 and Jupiter-8 synths and TR-808 and 909 drum machines, and you can, should you wish, buy them individually to use forever (for around $149 each). So how about a special Black Friday subscription Roland? Or, better still, a Black Friday bundle? We’ll take the Jupiter-8, Juno-106, a couple of SHs, two TRs and an XV please.

Read our full Roland Cloud review

Elsewhere we’ve covered emulations of some of the main core instruments in a band, so how about a complete orchestra? Well, this one isn’t quite so straightforward. With Augmented Orchestra, UVI has wisely tried to do something a little different to make it stand out from a sea of other orchestra titles. You get 18GB of sounds spread over 520 presets, but rather than individual instruments, you get orchestral sections – strings, brass and woodwinds – which are then combined with processing, and other textures, resulting in presets that can veer between natural and highly processed, huge or more subtle and ambient. It’s an orchestra with a difference and one we’d all like to join.

Read our full UVI Augmented Orchestra review

East West is well known for its incredible range of meticulously captured cinematic libraries – particularly the huge Hollywood Opus collection – but this latest offering takes things out of this world. Forbidden Planet, as you might have guessed, has more intergalactic sci-fi scores as its target. There’s a huge amount of content here – some 645 patches – but it’s all about morphing between layers, hitting up arpeggiators and creating evolving textures, fluid synth lines and pulsing, futuristic loops. You can even use a moon as an X-Y pad to morph between layers. Of course you can. At $399 you’re paying big bucks to get off world, but a Black Friday Deal might get you a bargain rocket ship trip.

Read our full East West Forbidden Planet review

Waves has had a busy 2022 with some great plugin releases. The latest is Harmony, not surprisingly a plugin aimed at vocalists wishing to pad out their single voices with some harmonic assistance. Waves has form in the vocal field – its stable includes Tune Real Time (opens in new tab), Vocal Bender (opens in new tab) and Renaissance Vox (opens in new tab) – and that expertise shines through here. You can select harmony types yourself or let the software do the hard work and there are plenty of formant, pitch, delay and filtering options to dig deep into. The results are stunning and there are plenty of presets to kick you off. Waves is no stranger to a sale and we’d be surprised NOT to see this discounted so if you need harmony in your life – and we all do, let’s face it – this could be a Black Friday steal. Check out more of the best Waves plugins here. 

We’re trying to recreate every sound a band makes, so here’s a plugin from IK Multimedia to sort your low end out. IK Multimedia’s MODO Bass 2 is your virtual bassist, with 22 bass instruments including a new double bass fretless option. IK’s meticulous modelling of pickup types, string gauges, and playing styles means that these virtual recreations sound excellent and very true to the originals. We’d even go so far as to say that this is the finest virtual electric bass instrument that we’ve used, so is the ideal way to create that essential backbone your music needs. Pricey? Maybe, so here’s hoping for a low-end deal on Black Friday.

Read our full IK Multimedia MODO Bass 2 review

In case you didn’t know, iZotope tends to take some of the more mysterious aspects of music production, add a big dose of AI, and make them accessible to everyone. With Ozone, for example, it’s all about mastering – that is making your final mix sound audience ready – a once dark art that only boffins in white coats at Abbey Road ever understood. Ozone brings it to the masses, with a Mastering Assistant ready to fulfil your mastering ambitions in just a few clicks. Ozone 10 refines everything and adds some extras. The more expensive Advanced Edition, for example, adds a Stabilizer EQ and Impact Module to enhance your beats. Ozone gives you a pro sound and can cost pro bucks, so look out for deals as it could make you the master of your own destiny.

Explore more Black Friday deals