Download TWIN PEAKS FLASH BY DESIGN

TECH NEWS
SOUNDBYTES
APP REVIEW
APP NAME : CAKEWALK
DEVELOPER : Z3TA
IPAD
FORMAT :
£13.99
PRICE :
DAVID K
CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT…
ELEKTRON MACHINEDRUM
“Korg’s Volka Keys is my best new piece of kit
from the last year; I still can’t believe that for the
price you can have proper polyphonic analogue
sound. It’s not my favourite piece of kit in the
studio, but it does have an incredible sound and
sequencer, which is great to play in a live set. On
the other hand, one of the oldest machines I have
is the Micro Korg, it’s still great for pads and
multi-layered sounds. It’s not true analogue but it
models analogue sound — it always makes me
happy. I remember a remix that I did with Guy
Gerber for Tsuba Records, and this machine saved
our lives finishing it.
“Saying that, when I got into analogue
synthesisers, like the MFB Semi Modular, the bass
was so loud that I needed some huge kicks in my
productions, so I went for the Xbase Jomox 999.
It gives the most massive sound for an analogue
drum machine. But the question that I still
haven’t answered, is what can’t I live without?
MFB’s Semi Modular synths (Kraftwerg &
Urzwerg) are great, and I can’t imagine my
production without them. The sound is so
particular, all the ideas and twists give you great
results. But to end with the question, my
favourite machine is my Elektron Machinedrum,
it’s not an analogue drum machine but still the
best machine I’ve ever had. I really can’t live
without it. Actually, I have just bought a Moog
Minitaur, and I have to say that it has the
massive sound of Moog bass, wow! I can’t
imagine living without this one too.”
It certainly is a rather good time to be
an iPad owner, with a fantastic range
of top-notch synths and music-making
apps being released of late. Further
good news comes from the Boston
headquarters of Cakewalk, who
have released their legendary Z3TA
soft-synth for the iPad. Those who are
familiar with the Z3TA will already know
and love its unmistakable signature
sound which has been used in countless
electronic records, and those who are
yet to sample Z3TA’s acoustic palette are
in for a treat.
The iPad version of Z3TA has been
redesigned to take advantage of the
iPad’s screen size as well as
the multi-touch capabilities
the device offers to open
up new wave-shaping
possibilities. While the
user interface may have
changed, the sound hasn’t.
This iPad version of Z3TA
VERDICT
8/10
has all the sonic depth of the original
along with impeccable sound quality.
The sound-shaping environments
Cakewalk have created for the iOS
version of Z3TA are very user-friendly
and have been separated into pages
to make the best use of the on-screen
real estate. The result is an easy-to-use
synthesiser that is very powerful as well
as a lot of fun. For making music on
the go, Z3TA also includes a collapsible
keyboard complete with octave shift
and the ability to choose root notes,
holding notes and more. iPad-owning
synth fetishists would be wise to head
to the App Store and download Z3TA
post haste.
FLASH BY
DESIGN
A DJ’s life isn’t all flashy controllers,
free drinks and the latest top-end
tech toys. At the base end of digital
DJing is the now-humble USB stick that
carries all those tunes. SanDisk Cruzer
Facet USB flash drives are popular
amongst DJs who opt to play on CD
decks, and are the real deal for DJs
looking for a hi-capacity USB stick for
their DJing duties. The Cruzer comes in
eight, 16, and 32GB capacities, is USB2
enabled and comes in a stylish and
durable design. To win one of these
DJ-friendly sticks, send an email to
[email protected] with your
details and we’ll pick a few lucky winners
out of the hat.
sandisk.co.uk
TWIN PEAKS
Universal Audio has become a firm favourite for DJs and
producers with their range of plug-ins and soundcards. However,
they have now upped the ante with their brand-new compact
soundcard for the mobile producer. Universal Audio’s Apollo Twin
takes the high-end technology found in its Apollo studio
soundcards and puts it in a compact package ideal for producers
who need a small portable soundcard for life on the road. The ace
in the pack with the Apollo Twin is the fact that users also get UA’s
real-time UAD plug-in processing built into the box, making for
one of the most powerful soundcards for its price.
£579 uaudio.com
146 djmag.com
WOLF IN SHEEP’S
CLOTHING
The Rhythm Wolf is the
new analogue instrument
from Akai that combines
the coveted sounds of
early electronic and
hip-hop music in a cool
retro casing. Inspired
by the classic analogue
beat machines and
synthesisers of the past,
Rhythm Wolf consists of
a drum machine with five
highly-tweakable drum
sounds including a kick,
snare, open and closed hihat, metallic percussion
and a bass synthesiser for
deep, speaker-churning
bass. Onboard controls
allow DJs or producers
to customise the tuning,
amplitude envelopes and
volume of either the drum
sounds or the bass, which
can easily be tweaked to
create not only powerful
bass sounds but squelchy
leads too.
£120
akaipro.com
JUST BEAT IT
Reloop just can’t put
a foot wrong at the
moment, they just seem
to be releasing some very
good kit and the Beat Mix
4 is another fine example
of how they keep getting
things just right. The Beat
Mix 4 is a four-channel
Serato DJ controller
that actually ships
with Serato’s premium
software straight out the
box. The Beat Mix 4 seems
to have borrowed some
of its styling cues from
Pioneer’s DDJ Ergo and is
obviously going head-tohead with Pioneer for a
pro-featured DJ controller
that also appeals to the
consumer market. The
Beat Mix 4 is a compact,
well-laid-out feature-rich
controller at a price that
will make everyone smile.
£250
reloop.com