It’s your chat. At the back. It’s Backchat! Got some important – or even pathetically trivial – concerns about computer music making to get off your drive? Or about anything else while you’re at it? Email them now to andy.jones@futurenet.com
Reader Music – another fan writes!
Dear
Glad to hear you are bringing back Reader Music*. It’s a great idea to bring back a feature to hear and read about what fellow Computer Music readers are producing, if only to measure my own meagre efforts against my peers. Will you be resurrecting the part where you get an expert producer to critique the tracks? This could be scary…
Glen
Indeed it could, and we don’t want to put off any readers from sending their music in, so we’ll be offering as constructive criticism as possible and leaving the possibly more extreme producer views for another time. If you want to send in your music to our all-new Reader Music* section – starting in next month’s issue by the way – please email links (Soundcloud or other) to computermusic@futurenet.com. Please include a bio, influences and background, plus details of your studio setup and photos. We will pick the most interesting for inclusion each month, depending on the takeup. And* it might not be called that.
A regular writes
Dear
How about a feature on sample pack company Cymatics? The only time I’ve seen them mentioned in music production magazines was the other month when Sub Focus mentioned using their presets in your interview, yet they seem to be everywhere, even being used by the like of Timbaland. They have an interesting story. Less than a decade ago they were broke, working holding sandwich boards in the street. They were offered a major label deal with Warner as producers but decided to pivot to becoming a sample pack company. Steven does all the marketing and
Drew all the sound design. Through a freemium model of giving loads of content away free, they have grown into a mini empire with a team of 40 plus producers churning out content including tutorials and podcasts. The two of them own top of the range Teslas, if that’s any indication of how well they’re doing! I have nothing to do with them except being a follower and occasional customer. They are also big advocates of saying all you need to succeed is a laptop, a pair of headphones and a lot of drive. In that vein, it would also be great to have a roundup feature of successful artists who use only a computer: Skrillex, San Holo etc.
Secondly on the DAW debate [ should we compare and contrast them as we did last issue? – Ed] I think the Live vs Logic comparison is wise and you could take it further by scientifically testing whether all the DAWs sound the same, just in the interests of sensationalist journalism, of course.
You could maybe do this by running the same set of samples and factory presets from third party plugins through each DAW and measuring them with the same independent spectrum analyser. You could also blind test the sounds on a bunch of people, perhaps sometimes throwing in the same sounds twice next to each other as a placebo.
This would probably prove nothing, but would generate years more arguments on the internet. Do I win some pasta?
Mat Ward, Sydney
Rather than sending various stockpiled lockdown products as gifts in exchange for your wise thoughts Mat, we may be better off simply employing you. (Sending pasta to Sydney is, as it turns out, very expensive.) As to Cymatics, they do indeed look like an interesting bunch. Do you have shares in the company, by the way? And the DAW idea is a good one too – one for a proper in deep comparison. We’ve had a lot of feedback on it; more next issue.
And Fabio rides into preset town again
Dear
Hello! Last time I sent you some presets I made with Baby Comeback and I’m happy and proud to see them on the latest issue [ 285, last month and on Filesilo for that edition].
So I decided to do it again this time with the great Pulsar Smasher! Yeah, it could be strange to make presets on a plugin that has only a few controls, but actually I found so many different uses of these settings to make various effects. The non-linearities of the saturation circuit, combined with the unpredictable all-buttons-in style compressor, make for some fun experiments! I hope these also could be useful for others, too. That’s why I named the presets in a non-technical but practical way.
Fabio Gotti (HydraTek)
Thanks Fabio, and your latest set is now up at filesilo.co.uk under issue number 286. You’ve now effectively got your own monthly magazine column.
Most oft-asked question of the month
Dear ,
Today I received my copy of Computer Music 285 and 2 1/2 weeks ago issue 284. I’m happy to get the printed version again, because I’d rather read these than a digital version (started reading 282, but stopped reading to wait for the printed versions). A few weeks earlier you mailed that the remaining issues (282 + 283) would be sent as soon as possible, so I expected to receive them together with the 284-issue, eventually the 285-issue. I see no reason why 284 + 285 can be sent and 282 + 283 not. Can you tell me if the remaining issues will be sent soon?
Ton, Holland (and many others)
Hello Ton, and to the many other subscribers who have emailed about these missing issues. During the C-19 lockdown many issues of (and other Future titles) were stockpiled while delivery services were disrupted. I’m glad to say we’ve just had word that these (tens of thousands of) stockpiled magazines have been sent out and you should hopefully have them now. Do get in touch at the usual address if not.