Embrace retro-gaming nostalgia with these free chiptune libraries for KONTAKT

It started with a few teenagers coding from their bedrooms but today, video games are a multi-billion dollar industry. And the music budgets have grown to match, with live orchestral recordings and surround sound mixing become the norm. Back in the day, however, technical limitations meant players had to content themselves with simple bleeps and bloops....

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5 of the best MASCHINE+ videos from our creator community (so far)

It’s been almost two months since our hotly-anticipated standalone groovebox dropped. Bringing the same hands-on workflow as its wired forebear, MASCHINE+ opens up a whole new world of out-of-the-box possibilities – but how does it hold up in the field? To answer that question, we’ve collected five of our favorite MASCHINE+ videos from our community...

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How Celeste composer Lena Raine went from playing video games to scoring them

That rite of passage, the mixtape. How many producers take the first steps into music not by learning how to play an instrument but by finding their own ingenious ways of compiling their favorite sounds together? Lena Raine, composer of indie hits Celeste and Guild Wars 2, is one such producer. “I would make mixtapes out of game soundtracks,” Raine...

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4 free KONTAKT libraries to lend your trap beats a unique, moody vibe

If you want your trap and hip-hop productions to truly stand out from the crowd, you need to be constantly on the lookout for interesting, original sample libraries – but you don’t necessarily need to spend any money to get hold of them. For this round-up, we’ve scoured the web to find five free KONTAKT instrument libraries that will take any basic...

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Rogét Chahayed breaks down his hit-making hooks for Travis Scott, Khalid, Halsey, and more

The irresistible elfin waltz of D.R.A.M.’s “Broccoli.” The twisted organ chords that kick off Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode.” The anthemic pads and horns of Drake’s “Laugh Now Cry Later.” The sultry, jazzy synths of Jessie Reyez’s “Far Away.” What do all these tracks have in common? They’ve all been touched, quite literally, by the hands of producer Rogét...

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Download a free MASSIVE X patch from dance-floor experimentalist AYA

For a few years now, Manchester-based club experimentalist Aya Sinclair has been releasing a steady stream of warped electronic tracks that variously connect the dots between drum and bass, footwork, grime, and – as she explains further down the page – metalcore. The recently defunct Tri Angle released AYA’s shape-shifting debut EP and departt from...

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These Orchestral Tools libraries are half price right now – watch them in action

We’ve teamed up with Orchestral Tools to give you a big discount on the full spectrum of cinematic scoring, from subtle shades of color to surging waves of sound. Until November 9, you can save 63% on the Symphonic Textures bundle or 50% on 10 single instruments. In this video, composer David Kudell uses the bundle (Time Macro, Time Micro, and the two...

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This haunting sketch from Kara-Lis Coverdale is based on a custom pipe-organ KONTAKT patch

Kara-Lis Coverdale’s ethereal, sample-based music is a product of her rigorous classical training as well as her interest in minimalism, ambient, computer music and the history of synthesis and sampling. Growing up in rural Ontario, she became the organist and music director at her Estonian church when she was just 14, and her interest in the technology...

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5 mysterious (and free) KONTAKT libraries for horror scoring

When you need sounds for horror scoring, you’re spoilt for choice with KONTAKT – everything from ghoulish gasps to dreadful drones, can be downloaded for free from many developers’ websites. If you’re looking to recreate a particular vibe from the genre’s expansive cinematic legacy, then pay special attention to the soundtracks of that era. The 80’s...

Oct 2020

On Fiebre, tropical futurists Dengue Dengue Dengue layer animal-hoof shakers with POLYPLEX, RAUM, and REPLIKA

In one corner of Felipe Salmon’s Neukölln studio sits a bundle of animal hooves fastened to strips of multi-colored twine. They’re the size and color of mushrooms: beige and inky black, polished smooth around their hooked peripheries by years of use. “I also have a lot of different seeds tied together,” Salmon says offhandedly. They lie beside pig nails,...

Oct 2020