Ins & outs

GO FIGURE

We’re not sure if Propellerhead splitting off its Allihoopa social music network into a separate business is good news or not, but the fact that the company’s Figure and Take apps have gone with it could mean we’re one step closer to Reason on the iPad.

D-50 DELIGHT

Producers of a certain age will be delighted to know that, following the release of a software version in their Cloud, Roland have brought back the 80s classic D-50, in the form of the D-05. Now we just need to work out where we’re going to use that Digital Native Dance preset...

PRIZED PROCESS

Congratulations to Sampha on scooping the Mercury prize for his album Process. There’s plenty to recommend about his blend of electronica and forwardthinking R&B, and he was surely a more deserving winner than Ed Sheeran.

POWER NO MORE

Although TC Electronic effectively discontinued their PowerCore ‘powered plugins’ platform in 2011, the company had still been supporting it. That support will cease at of the end of 2017, though, effectively ending the life of what was once a very highly-regarded system.

AI PRODUCERS

Taryn Southern recently released an album composed entirely with artificial intelligence. Computers may be getting stronger in the world domination stakes, but we reckon they’ll still get stuck when trying to turn a four-bar loop into a proper arrangement.

iPHONE X-PENSIVE

It’s got an edge-to-edge screen, n, facial recognition technology and can be charged wirelessly, but we still can’t get over the fact that the iPhone X costs more than most people would pay for a laptop. Oh, and it’s the iPhone ‘ten’, not the iPhone ‘ex’.