Inspired by the swung grooves that have travelled from home studios and pirate radio to global festivals, let’s see how to make tight, timeless 2-step beats. UK garage has seen a big resurgence, with names like Sammy Virji playing Coachella. But UKG is a broad umbrella, spanning US imports like Todd Edwards’ Sample Choir E.P,…
Fracture Sounds Releases Free Blueprint: Alt Woodwind Ensemble for Kontakt Player
Fracture Sounds has released Blueprint: Alt Woodwind Ensemble, a free woodwind library for the free Kontakt Player (version 8 or later). It is the latest addition to the company’s Blueprint range of free instruments. The library is built around four instruments you rarely find in large orchestral collections: alto flute, bass flute, bass clarinet and…
Heavyocity Releases Psychosis – Horror and Thriller Scoring Library for Kontakt Player
Heavyocity has released Psychosis, a Kontakt library for horror and thriller scoring. It includes 720 organic sound sources and 332 presets across two instruments, Psychosis Designer and Psychosis Menu. Recorded at Heavyocity’s studios, the source material includes koto, sarangi, rubab, music boxes, toy pianos, thunder sheets, gongs, and resonating metals. Unconventional performances, including scraping, over-bowing,…
PVT Studio releases Gain Curve v1.1 – leveling tool that reads the whole take first (Mac VST3 & AU)
PVT Studio has released Gain Curve 1.1 for macOS, a levelling tool for singers, pianists, podcasters and anyone whose performance goes from a whisper to a shout. Here’s what they say: Where a compressor or a live vocal rider reacts to each moment as it plays, Gain Curve reads the whole recording first and draws…
Audiomodern Releases Riffer 4 for iPad
Following the release of the desktop version, Audiomodern has released Riffer 4 for iPad, bringing the next generation of its creative MIDI sequencer to the App Store. Designed to generate melodies, hooks, basslines, arpeggios, and sequences, Riffer 4 features five distinct generation engines, each with its own musical character. Choose a key and scale, generate…
IrisOrbit updates PolyArp to v1.4.0 with note repeats and separate MIDI ports
IrisOrbit has updated PolyArp, its two-part MIDI arpeggiator, to version 1.4.0. New in this version: Independent Repeat modes for each hand: Off, Each, First, Last and Custom, with 1–16 plays in total. Custom 2,1,3 plays the first note twice, the second once and the third three times. MIDI CC and Aftertouch control of Repeat mode…
What Is the Amapiano Log Drum (And How to Get the Sound)
If you have heard amapiano, you have heard the log drum. It is that deep, bouncing, gliding bass note that drives the groove – part bassline, part lead, impossible to miss once you know it. For producers coming from trap or house, the log drum is the one sound you have to get right, because…
Trap vs Drill: Drums, BPM and Bass Explained
Trap and drill are cousins. They share DNA – dark melodies, hard 808s, hip-hop roots – and to a casual listener they can blur together. But under the hood the drums, the tempo feel and the basslines are programmed differently, and knowing those differences is what lets you make either one on purpose instead of…