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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