Computer Music

Computer Music's goal is to help its readers create great music with a PC or Mac. Each month find easy-to-follow tutorials for all sorts of music software, unbiased reviews of the latest products and answers to technical questions.

welcome

Steinberg Cubase 12 • Cubase have just announced version 12 of Cubase, so in our excitement we’re doing a news special to give you the full lowdown on what to expect

12 of 12’s best • New season, new update, new features

10 years back • Our monthly shake-of-the-head at our younger selves’ news choices…

THE HISTORY OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC • We’re covering 60 years of the synthesiser in this issue but, as we discover as we look back in time, the synthesiser and electronic music were. actually with us well before the 1960s. Here we break down their history into component parts – ironically, rather like a modular synth – and discover their rather ‘shocking’ beginnings…

The Theremin

Musique concrète

Great Scott

Jean-Michel Jarre

Amazing 90s electronic music

Amazing C21 electronic music

The 60s • As we begin our sojourn through 60 Years of the Synth, we go back to the 1960s to consider where it all started, laying praise at the door of the synth forerunners and revealing the first ‘proper’ synth from 1962…

Synths in Europe

Get a Beatles-esque Mellotron sound • Drawing inspiration from a Beatles classic, we take a trip down to Strawberry Fields territory, with GForce’s updated M-Tron Mk 2

6 of the best 60s plugins

Top ten of the 60s • The people and tech that launched a thousand cultural movements

Get the Tornados-style Ondioline riff • Joe Meek’s classic 60s hit Telstar was performed by The Tornados, but its lead-line melody was performed using an Ondioline. We recreate it, using our very own ZebraCM

The 70s • Once the 60s had laid down the framework, the 70s picked up the baton and turned the synthesiser into a musical entity and idiom. It started off being used by the rich kids and then the very cool kids…

Strings and vocoders

Popcorn-style lead line • This was an unexpected instrumental hit in the 70s by Hot Butter, with a classic lead line sound that’s become the stuff of legends. We recreate this now, using Zebra CM

Top ten of the 70s • The who’s who and what’s what of 70s synthesis

Oxygène-style pads • Every synth fan knows the iconic album Oxygène, by Jean-Michel Jarre. We recreate those beautiful synthetic string and pad sounds here…

6 of the best 70s-style plugins

#03 Audio interface bass • Continuing our perfect bass production journey, let’s learn how to record and enhance a clean bassline through an audio interface

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Ashley Thorpe

#13 Metallic keys • Want to wake up your inner sound magpie? Create something shiny with ZebraCM, as we get all metallic with those keys

LOCKING GROOVES

Dave Gale

The 80s All analogue and chips • As the 80s dawned, the scene was set for a decade where synth technology would become available to all, and synthpop would rule the charts. But then things got very digital

Roland Cloud

MIDI

Digital dreams • Analogue was starting to feel a tad tired in the synth world. With so many analogue releases, companies were trying to find ways to bring the cost down, while taking the technology forward. The concept of digital parameter access was gaining traction fast, and what was about to happen would change 80s music forever

The Fairlight

Drums and Rhythm Composers

The UVI Collective

Duran Duran-style synth line • Duran Duran’s sound defined the 80s. We recreate the arpeggiated riff from the opening of Save A Prayer using...