Category Archives: Drum Machines

2023 Music Production Hardware: A Rundown of the Best Options For This Year

This 2023 list of hardware for music production is by no means exhaustive and each of the headings here could deserve a list in its own right. However, to kick off 2023, this article is a snapshot of the BEST hardware to consider across multiple categories. To make this list, gear had to be both affordable for the average home sound designer or producer, as well as stand out somehow in its niche. Read on for a brief look at ways to inject some new energy into your studio for 2023.

2023 Music Production: Best Hardware Drum Synth – Korg Volca Drum

This is a really affordable and staggeringly sophisticated little drum machine which makes the bold decision to generate its kick and snare sounds through digital FM synthesis as opposed to via samples. This isn’t the only drum machine in the Volca series but it is the most creative. Billed as Korg’s bold experiment in introducing you to new sounds on their website, it lives up to the hype there by totally delivering on its unusual features whilst still making them sound great. The Volca hits the sweet spot between innovation and crowd pleasing, which is no small feat and at a low budget is a seriously exciting and compact drum machine.        

Features: 

  • Sound produced digitally from a six part DSP engine 
  • Automate up to 69 parameters
  • Wavesculpting and waveguide resonator effect 
  • 2 layers per part for lush, sonorous undertones and overtones 
  • Slice and accent features 
  • Clean and intuitive LED screen to keep track of your work 
  • Layer isolation capacity to give you total control over undertones and overtones 
  • Compact and intuitive control matrix with connection to LED screen 
  • Can produce both drum and synth sounds 

Availability and price:  circa 150 USD from Korg’s website. You can also scoop a great deal on Reverb.com by clicking here.

2023 Best Hardware Sampler – Elektron Digitakt MKII

At over 600 USD, this isn’t a cheap sampler. Yet despite the fact it’s in the higher range of the price spectrum, it absolutely delivers on what it promises. The ability to use both internal tracks and external MIDI sources means that you have limitless creative possibilities, especially in terms of tonal and textural variety. This is a sampler which has the processing power to cope with your wildest sonic imaginings. 

Like with most Elektron products, the sequencer is also top notch and the Digitakt MKII could have taken a spot on this list based on that alone. However, where it really shines is its workflow, opportunities for streamlining your music making, and ability to encourage creative sampling due to how it seamlessly blends internal and external audio. 

Features: 

  • Cutting edge power and processing 
  • Combines 8 internal tracks with 8 external MIDI sources 
  • Over 400 factory samples
  • 23 drum kits 
  • Two LFOs for double the modulation 
  • Full processing for external audio sources including stereo capacity, reverb, and delay 
  • One basewidth and multimode filter each per audio track for ultimate variation of parameters
  • Stereo compression 
  • Ability to send reverb and delay 
  • Smooth yet gritty high quality overdrive 

Availability and price: arround 800 USD, and available from their website. Also available on Reverb in both new and second hand options – click here.

Best Music Production Hardware Sequencer 2023 – AKAI Professional MPC One

AKAI actually developed the term MPC, standing for MIDI Production Center. The MPC One is basically a standalone sequencer and workstation, which can create beats and loops plus also lets you compose melodies both from built in samples and from your own sample uploads. Where it stands out is in its compactness and versatility; it really shines even when away from the rest of your studio equipment.

In fact, AKAI are adept at making gear which helps you be flexible. Their products are easily adaptable to the rest of your gear and always high quality at great value for money. Indeed, they’re still relatively underrated and you can check out another of their best offerings here where we cover the MPK mini MKII MIDI controller. The MPC One offers the same level of connection and fluidity in a standalone workstation.

Demos show how it can be used to create full fledged, seamless, and modern beats but there’s a lot more to it than just that. The MPC One Standalone lets you access you Splice library and other sound files too, so you can take your favourite sounds with you. Just remember it needs to be plugged in at a socket.

Features: 

  • Looping, sampling, and arpeggiation 
  • 16 backlit pads for playing at all venues 
  • Ability to sync with your MIDI technology in the studio 
  • Totally modern up to date sounds capable of producing trap beats or old school melodies 
  • The single most compact MPC from AKAI yet
  • Standalone capability makes it an ideal workstation for on the go 
  • Built in drum programs with a leaning towards urban and dance music but with real creative potential for all musicians 

Availability and price: Ranging from 700 to 850 USD. Not available on their site but can be purchased from all good retailers such as Andertons and Thomann. If you want to support the channel, use this link to buy from Reverb – we get a small kickback. 

Best Overall Synth – Uno Synth Pro From IK Multimedia

If there had to be one lesser-known modern synth to make this list as the absolute best recently updated machine, it’s the Uno Synth Pro from IK Multimedia. Although not a synthesis heavyweight such as Korg or Behringer in terms of output, this affordable and intuitive little synth has been met with rave reviews despite or perhaps because of features like it’s potentially polarising capacitive touchplate keys.

Plus, IK Multimedia also offers the Uno as a tabletop synth, which is a great dealbreaker if you have limited space or a small studio. 

Features: 

  • Variable waveshape oscillators 
  • FM and ring modulation 
  • Hyper-connectivity including midi inputs and outputs plus ability to connect audio input directly to FX and filters 
  • Studio grade delay and reverb 
  • Weighted keyboard
  • Free mac/pc editor 
  • Comes in black or red 

Availability and price: 300-350 USD for the desktop version and available from their website, and also on Reverb.com – click here to see the deals.    

Final Thoughts

This music production hardware roundup for 2023 obviously doesn’t cover every great bit of gear out there – just some of the most interesting in each category. Some entries could have easily taken a different spot, and the beauty of music is there are no hard and fast rules. However, these were chosen due to both their high quality, value, but also for their potential for inspiration to ensure new musical beginnings for the upcoming year. Happy music making!

Love music hardware? We have a whole section here.

Best portable electronic music studio gear – for production and live acts

Hello and welcome to our round-up of the best portable music studio gear in 2023, for producing electronic music on the go and also for live music shows. This list is by all means non-final, and will get updated when the market provides us studio-heads with more options. So if you want to go on the road, you found a nice spot that gives you inspiration or even if you don’t have a permanent place to stay, this one is for you.

In the latest update, we look at some new additions in a year that has been surprisingly fruitful for creative portable electronic music gear. 

With innovations from Roland with the Roland S-1 and with Teenage Engineering’s much anticipated EP33 KO-II, we also have ome lesser known, up and coming brands such as Polyend, as well as the Liven Lo-Fi 12 from Japanese synth makers Sonicwear.

Below you will find only the greatest portable music production equipment, we bring you the best of the best and the second offer, so don’t expect an all inclusive 15-item list, just our own selection.

Best portable electronic music studio mixer: 1010music blue box (very) compact studio mixer

This one is a no-brainer basically. It is the most compact portable digital audio mixer in existence, and had a very good reception when it was introduced back in 2019. While the 1010music blackbox studio – compact sampling and mixing device does not have the hands on control of a traditional mixer, it packs in all the features.

1010music bluebox provides 6 stereo 3.5 mm TRS inputs. Of course you are not going to get your studio-grade 16, 24 or 32 input mixing console, but if you are travelling, you will not be doing so with your full collection of synths to actually plug in to 24 audio channels. Yes you cannot do the smooth fader movements, often 3-4 at one time, but again going portable is all about compromises.

So yes, there is menu-diving and yes you rely on a touch screen for most of your work with this, but the size in unbeatable and the price is extremely good too. You can record everything on one or more micro-sd cards which is also a very nice feature as it can completely remove your laptop from your portable setup if this is what you want. If you are travelling on a plane and you are limited in weight of your luggage, it is excellent.

It also has two outputs plus headphones, so there is the option to have some outboard processing as well, as it has the option to create bus style routing. Overall, it can be the centre of you portable music studio or live act setup as it also comes equipped with MIDI I/O, a four-band EQ for each channel,

The Bluebox mixer supports USB power so it most definitely can run off an USB power bank, just make sure you get a name-brand one as the cheaper alternatives are not that stable and may end up frying your gear or just cutting the power without saving your work.

For live acts, it might not be the best weapon that you have as it lacks tactile speed of a normal mixing board. This one is more of a set-and-forget device, so you have to be aware of it’s shortcomings.

You can buy the 1010music bluebox mixer on Amazon right here.

You can also check out second hand options for the 1010music bluebox mixer on Reverb by clicking here.

Yamaha MG06x 6-Input Compact Stereo Mixer with Effects

This portable music studio mixer is more for the old-school types that want to have a more hands on approach, and prefer to trade off some space for this (obviously). This Yamaha mixer does not have a screen, but it does have two microphone XLR connections with phantom power, plus two stereo/four mono inputs. It does not have the ability to record on external media, but it offers a metal rugged chassis and you can just use what recording device you can get including a sound card and a laptop; maybe take them from your fixed studio?

Yes while it has it’s drawbacks, it still boosts an extra compact layout and has some rather good built-in effects, two sets of (identical) outputs, phone outputs and high pass filter option on the inputs (to filter out the low 80hz frequencies). While 1010music are a newcomer to the game, Yamaha has been building studio gear for a long time, and knows its way around mixing equipment.

The inputs of the Yamaha MG06x are studio grade and other than the effects, the sound processing is fully analog. It is also good for the money you pay for it, and weight in at just about 2 pounds, it will fit into your bag without problems. Just don’t expect to run this thing off batteries, it will only work with mains level power.

You can buy the Yamaha MG06x 6-input portable music studio mixer on Amazon right here.

You can also check out second hand options for the Yamaha mixer on Reverb by clicking here.

Best portable electronic music studio sampler: 1010music black box (very) compact sampling studio

Again a piece of studio gear from 1010music, who specialises in very portable equipment. The blackbox is a very interesting sampler with extra features. It has a touchscreen that is both bright and generous (given the full unit size).

Again, the purpose is mostly to replace your computer as it features an arranger and song builder completely out of your samples, but you can also use it to capture performances on your $20.000+ synths that never leave the studio and just jam with what you recorded when out and about.

For that purpose it gets the job done with a bit of creativity to spare thanks to the internal effects and presets.. The 1010music blackbox also supports an SD card like the blue box and takes in both mono and stereo samples at 16, 24 and even 32bit. It has a 24 bit DAC so your recordings from the analog world will sound best.

Just like the Bluebox portable music studio mixer, the Blackbox sampler can run off an USB power bank, just make sure you get a good one that provides a stable voltage.

As i/o connectivity goes, you can put one stereo channel in and get three stereo channels out but don’t forget that you can internally mix these analog signals with the samples that are run internally (16 channels). It also supports 16-note polyphony and USB and TRS midi (you will need an adapter if you want to MIDI interface with other traditional 5-pin sockets).

So this portable music studio piece of equipment seems to tick all the boxes, but what it does not have is hands on approach. So while it is good for production, in a live show you might not really want this as it takes a bit of time to do significant changes to your sound and also because of the touchscreen interface, the control might be a bit wonky.

Still we think it has it’s place arround gear-heads and you can buy the 1010music Blackbox sampling studio it by clicking here.

Polyend Tracker MINI 

Ok, we can’t believe nobody has done this before. The tagline for what looks like a small piece of retro technology is ‘make an album on the go’. What the Tracker Mini is essentially, is a portable audio workstation.  That means it includes a sequencer, sampling and sound design tools, a built in microphone, and all the other capacities you would need to create working versions of your ideas even when you are miles away from your studio.

Does it live up to what it promises? It’s very dependent on the individual, so if you’re a studio purist you probably won’t like this one. However, their site does have a section where you can hear albums made entirely with the Tracker Mini, and the interface, which essentially acts as a DAW, is not to be sniffed at, with all the functionality and simplicity of a less popular DAW like Reaper. 
We’re hoping to potentially go more in depth with this one soon, so watch this space. But for now, if you want to check out all its features, you can see them here on the Polyend website. However, remember that it doesn’t come cheap, at 699 EUR,and this is likely to be a highly in demand product. However, you can pre order from their same website.

Elektron Model:Samples portable music studio sampler

While the previous sampler is considered by us the best, this is mostly because of the portability factor and also because most people use samplers more as sample players, and just changing the sample recorded from time to time without serious editing in real time.

However, for those that want more control and are willing to sacrifice a bit of portability, there is the Elektron Model:Samples.

Yes we are huge Elektron fans here at idesignsound. These Swedish guys nailed it with their grooveboxes, their workflow is fun and their specialty is flexibility. With the exception of the mixer and effect category, Elektron are present with offerings on all portable music studio gear types presented in this article

The Elektron Model:Samples is considered a very entry-level way of getting familiar with the way that this company handles it’s workflow. Everyone will tell you that they have a bit of a learning curve and that they see things a bit differently. Some will even say that they tend to make user experiences that are overly complex, even for the most trivial of tasks. But we tend to disagree, as all things that they do, they do for flexibility and power.

It is clear to us that with the Model:Samples they tried a bit of simplification. They offer a lot of one-function-per-knob controls which is very rare these days, especially in compact gear. They seem to create a lot of space between these knobs so they are perfectly suited for live performances where you don’t really get great lighting and you may twist the wrong knob if the controls are very close to each other.

The features are great on this product, and we would like to firstly point out the sequencer. Yes, Elektron have probably the best and most powerful sequencing options in the game and have made this their most important trademark. You can record live, you can program changes of parameters in each step, you can have odd sequencing times and you can have probabilities and micro-timing settings too. This is basically standard for this company, and the Model:Samples makes no exception. Then, you have the six velocity sensitive pads to get finger drumming, the retrigger and the stereo effects, all very useful.

While the sampling and sound engine is limited, this is to be expected as the company offers more products with a higher price tag and better sampling features. Let’s remember that this is an entry level product and that sampling is mostly just sample playback.

You can buy the Elektron Model:Samples portable music studio sampler from Reverb by clicking on this link.

LIVEN Lo-Fi 12 – Portable Unique Sampler

Whilst we are big Elektron fans, we also do like to give the spotlight to lesser known companies. One of these is Japan’s Sonicwear, who are capitalising on the trend for LoFi music that doesn’t seem to be slowing any time soon. 

They’re doing this with the Liven Lo-Fi 12 portable sampler and groovebox. If you’re looking for a synth that you can make beats with from scratch it may not be the best. However, this isn’t because it’s no good – instead, it specialises in one thing and does it really well, and you guessed it – that’s Lo-Fi. 

Sonicwear claims that the Lo-Fi 12 ‘makes creating music fun’, well, most of you readers here will already think that it’s fun on its own merit. However, we do have to commend the Lo-Fi 12 for taking the Lo-Fi trend and running with it to the absolute limits. 

The product video on their website even claims that it ‘turns everything into Lo-Fi’ and this is an accurate assessment, but you’d be forgiven for thinking that was the only gimmick. 

Obvious if you don’t want a lofi sound, this synth won’t be any good. But within this, it has a retro 12 bit sampler, bitcrusher, reverb, delay, high pass and low pass filters, and so much more. Plus, the demo video shows that it’s remarkably versatile, even being able to create gritty jungle beats under a lo-fi veneer. Additionally, the ‘laid back’ knob creates ‘drunk’ sounding beats, a feature that we love for its creativity. 

As it’s also released in v.2.1 this year, we felt it was a must include for a unique and portable sampler and groovebox that does something different. However, it doesn’t come cheap, at 239 USD. 

Best portable electronic music studio polyphonic synth: Elektron Analog4

Ok, now we get deep and dirty with the Elektron offerings. While the previous product we discussed, the Model:Samples was considered an over-simplification, the Analog4 ticks all the boxes of the Elektron not-so-beginner-friendly way. The Analog4 is an excellent sounding and extremely versatile synth. Most people swear by it in every live show, although some consider the oscillators and sound engine to be a little thin. We personally disagree, and we have alywas enjoyed the sound that you can get with an Analog4.

This is mostly because of the complex modulation routings possible with it (basically you can modulate every parameters of the synth) and the waveshaping possibilities (all oscillator wave types can have the pulse wave modulated). There is a very interesting trapezoid wave type, there is partial oscillator sync, there are a lot of envelope shapes to choose from and there is AM. The new MK2 version of the Elektron Analog4 has a redesigned outer shell, it looks very pretty but if you want extreme compactness, you should look for a used MK1 as they have the classic rectangle groovebox shape profile.

The 4 in Analog4 stands for the separate synth channels that this thing can output. This is called multi-timbrality. What this means is that while you are buying one single unit, it is capable of creating four individual and distinct sounds that can have their own sequences and their own modulations (albeit these four distinct channels will be monophonic meaning you can only play one note at a time)

If you don’y want four mono channels but actually need some polyphony, this thing can switch to four-note polyphonic play (so you can do chords with it). The voice routing is extremely flexible and you can have eveything in between (two mono channels, one 2-note poly) including four note unison.

The sequencer on the Analog4 is state of the art, with every possible creative trick at your disposal. There is a lot spoken about the Elektron sequencer, it being an entire subject on its own, so it is important that you actually research this if you plan on buying this product. What is important to say si that with the most recent patches applied, you can even send the sequencer notes via MIDI to other gear and have the Analog4 as a midi brain, sending notes to the other compact equipment that does not have a means of inputting notes.

There are three stereo effects on board this beast, and there are also two audio inputs so you can use these effects for your other sound generators. The delay shines and you can sync it via MIDI too. Speaking of audio inputs, the Analog4 can even work as a sound card via USB, getting two mono channels of sound in your computer or getting two mono channels of sound from your computer in the analog realm. The converters on this are 48khz-24bit.

You can buy the Elektron Analog4 MK2 from this link as new on Amazon.

You can also check the Analog4 MK2 as second hand on Reverb by clicking here.

Last but not least, you can also try the older Elektron Analog4 MK1 as it is cheaper and somewhat similar. You can explore Reverb options for the MK1 by clicking here.

Oh, and if the Analog4 is up to your taste but not your budget, you can also check the Elektron Digitone – not analog, more compact, more cheap. We will write a review soon!

Moog Minitaur portable monophonic synth

So for those of you that were a bit intimidated by the Analog 4, there is a much more streamlined option: the Moog Minitaur.

Sure, the first thing you will loose is features like a sequencer, polyphony, midi output, sound card features, modulation matrix, pulse width modulation, FM/AM modulation. Now that we got that out of our heads, the Minitaur is the easy way into the Moog Sound. And boy what a sound that is. if you are into bass-heavy music, you can’t go wrong with it. They even call it a “bass” synthesiser, but that is mostly because of the limited feature set.

What you actually get is a two oscillator one lfo synth. The wave shapes are limited; pulse or triangle and there is no way of modulating anything other than the pitch and filter. You do get two ADR/ADS envelopes, glide/portamento and an audio in for either plugging in external gear through the filter and envelopes or (more commonly) creating a feedback loop to thicken the sound.

Although by using a computer and the control VST you will get some added features including a preset management library, in a portable setup that can or can not be achieved. It all depends if you use a computer or not.

Although the computer brings in more flexibility (and midi – USB), we still think that the Minitaur is made to be tweaked-upon. The sound is lush and the filter is what you expect from a Moog.

You can buy the Moog Minitaur on Reverb by clicking here.

Other portable synth mentions

There are some new Synth offerings from 1010music that we covered separately in individual reviews:

1010music fireball – wavetable synth – read our review by clicking here

1010music lemondrop – granular synth – read our review by clicking here

We have another blast from the past with the Roland S-1, a new portable synth that is modelled on the legendary Roland SH-101. This portable polysynth uses modernistic features such as wave manipulation and onboard sequencing. It also has unique options like oscillator chop, which use technology for newer than ever sounds. Ultimately, it’s super portable, and a great mixture of old and new. Billed as a tweak synth, we think this one is all about the ability to sculpt, shape, design, and pus the boundaries of music. Check it out on their website here.

Best portable electronic music studio drum machine: Elektron Analog Rytm

As we said, we are big Elektron fans. Elektron Analog Rytm MK2 is made to be paired with the Analog4 and is Elektron’s take on drum machine, and also a successor to the highly sought-after digital drum machine from the previous generation: the Elektron Machinedrum.

What you get with the Analog Rytm is: basically everything.

You want to do finger drumming like on the MPC – you got it!

You want to use samples – you got it!

You want analog drums – you got it!

You want to modulate as much as possible – you got it!

You want to control other gear with the sequencer and midi – you got it!

You want to output individual tracks – you got it!

You want to process external sounds in each of the total eight tracks – you got it!

Coming it with it’s distinctive sequecing power, individual step settings (p-locks) and all the workflow improvements that this company is known for, the Analog Rytm is an eight-track monster packed in a very compact format.

The sounds it’s analog engine make are world class, you can hear it in most modern productions and if you still don’t like them, you can switch to your own samples without issues. You can even mix both in a single drum kit.

Drum machines are, in our honest oppinion more simpler than synths, so there is not much we can cover about them, the sounds you can either love or hate but the workflow, once you get used to it, will raise your standards for life.

You can buy the Elektron Analog Rytm MK2 here.

You can also check the Analog Rytm MK2 as second hand on Reverb by clicking here.

Last but not least, you can also try the older Elektron Analog Rytm MK1 as it is cheaper and somewhat similar. You can explore Reverb options for the MK1 by clicking here.

If you would rather have something even more compact and more affordable than the Rytm, while still keeping true to the Elektron workflow, you should check out the Elektron Digitakt.

MFB-522 portable drum machine

Yes this is a classic and yes this is discontinued for a long time. Yes this is an 808-clone. But it is by far one of the most compact drum machines ever.

While really very simple and very hard to use, especially if you have big fingers, we still felt the need to mention this tiny piece of 100% analog gear. We just love it.

Yes we love it’s weight and it’s color scheme. We love that it has four outputs given it’s size and that you can really get some punchy sounds out of it. The hi-hats choke, and the kick bounces.

Just throw it in your bag, purse or even your pocket (this thing is tiny) for some instant 808.

What we don’t like is the sequencer. You really should not fiddle with the 522 during a live show, but for a portable music studio you really can’t go wrong.

You can find the 522 on the used market, however in recent times it’s becoming a rare sighting. You can check Reverb by clicking here.

The Teenage Engineering EP 33 KO II

And, we’ve saved this one for last because of how exciting it is. Finally, we have a successor to the Teenage Engineering PO 33-KO. With PO standing for pocket operator, it’s pretty obvious that this sampler is super portable. Essentially, the biggest thing about the update is a reworking of the sequencer. 

But we have to give this one a mention just because we love the innovation of Teenage Engineering products anyway. 

What is has: 

  • Ability to sequence your samples, loops, and beat
  • Tons of great pre-loaded stuff with the classic Teenage Engineering high sound quality 
  • A hadheld, portable sampler and sequencer that lets you take in the sonic environment around you and play it back in whatever form captures your imagination. 

We can’t go into the full details of every great sampler and piece of gear in one article, but we definitely think this is one of the most anticipatory new pieces of portable gear this year. You can check it out on their website here

Portable Music Studio Gear: Honorable Mentions

Here we will put other compact studio gear with some notes, they are good just not the go-to for us so they did not have their own article sub-section.

Conclusion

While the portalble music studio equipment landscape is as dynamic as ever, nothing will be able to replace the laptop or even an eurorack modular setup in terms of flexibility. This is why we did not bother to go into effects, because these tend to be one trick ponies and it’s a good idea to actually add effects in the digital realm. We have a great article about using analog effects right here, if you are interested. Most hardware effect units are actually digital inside so the whole analog vs digital battle does not apply to them. There is also something magic when you max in the digital realm and use a laptop, or max the opposite, analog spectrum and get a very multipurpose eurorack module selection. These are maximums for compactness that also allow you maximum flexibility and the most efficient storage space management possible.

While we did make a point into not discussing these two tools – modular and laptops, having a portable music studio for both production and live performances is extremely fun and inspiring. Just breathe in that fresh mountain air and sport a nice solar panel to recharge your batteries (you should have multiple packs of them), while you make your own flavour of music and soak all the inspiration that the outdoors can provide!

Best Prime Day 2020 Music Promotion Deals

It’s (kind of) finally here- The shopping season is upon us and as always, retailers are starting off with a bang with amazon’s prime day.

Although pioneered by Amazon, several brands have joined in on the fun and have started offering up to 90% off their products.

And, as always, we’re here to guide you through the best deals and freebies

VST Plugins Prime Day Deals

Waves

As usual, Waves is running a series of crazy discounts. They are marketed as black Friday deals, though we’ll include them here are they are still on time for prime day.

We still consider their subscription to be one of the best deals out there, especially because it includes a free trial period of 1 month– more than enough to produce several award-winning tracks.

Scheps Omni Channel- 74% off (38.99$)

The Scheps Omni Channel gets its name from the brilliant Andrew Scheps- engineer to jay z, Adele, Metallica, and many others.

This channel strip is a staple of any modern producer, and it’s now 74% off!

Vocal Rider- 86% off (35.99$)

Vocal rider is known for its simplicity and effectiveness. It will adjust your vocals automatically with great results.

It’s at 86% off for a limited time.

Waves Tune Real Time- 82% off (35.99$)

If you run a studio or record vocals frequently, this is a must have VST. It allows singers to stay in tune in real time. It’s basically a magic box that makes anybody a great singer.

At this price, this is a great tool to just play around if you ever wondered how your voice would sound if recorded professionally.

There are a bunch more waves plugins heavily discounted at the waves website, these are only the ones that caught our attention, for a full list, click on the link below:

WAVES DEALS

Plugin Boutique

W.A Productions Back to School Bundle- 95% off (9.99$)

For the price of an expensive coffee, you’ll get WA Babylon, instascale and instachord.

It’s a no-brainer.

Soundspot Union & Expansions sale 90% off (16$)

IK Multimedia

Total Studio Max 2- 75% off (249.99$)

17 synths with over 2000 presets, 2 400 instruments, 34 effects, 39 high end audio processors, guitar amps, samples, and much more.

All this for 249.99$ (Down from 999$). What more can we say?

Sample Tank 4- 50% off (149.99$)

Included in Total Studio Max 2.

This is a huge sound library of over 260GB with a beautifully designed interface.

IK Multimedia is running a couple of other promotions, which you can check in the link below:

IK MULTIMEDIA

Musical Instruments

Amazon U.S Prime Day Music Deals

Amazon’s prime music deals are too many to list in one single post.

So feel free to browse headphones, musical instruments, and home audio using the link below:

AMAZON DEALS

Best Musical Instruments for a Toddler

It’s never too early to get into music. In fact, there have been countless studies proving the benefits of encouraging your child to play an instrument.

Getting engaged in music will help them learn how to listen and pay attention, and it even helps with overall motor skills and communication abilities.

Also, music is like a language on its own – an expressive tool that can eventually help you “say” what you weren’t able to when using only words.

So it’s always a good idea to get someone interested in music earlier in life.

Of course, it’s not that strange to see even the youngest ones showing interest in music.

If this is the case with your children, you should always consider helping them pursue their potential talents, even if they’re toddlers.

Singing may be the best way to start and see whether your child shows further signs of interest.

But, on the other hand, playing an actual instrument might be a bit complicated at this age as the conventional stuff is usually not exactly toddler-friendly.

However, some manufacturers specialize in making instruments for the youngest ones. And in case you also play an instrument, engaging in this activity with your child will definitely be a special kind of bonding experience.

With all this in mind, we would like to take some time to explore some of the best instruments for toddlers that you might find useful and interesting.

Kalimba for Toddlers

Kalimba is a pretty simple contraption developed from an old traditional African instrument called mbira. This simplified version became somewhat popular around the world since the 1950s. Also called a “thumb piano,” it’s often a simple resonator box with metal tines added on top of it. The sound is produced by plucking the tines which are arranged in the same way piano keys are.

There are some simplified versions for kids, like the one made by Nimba Percussions which features only five metal tines.

Although pretty rudimentary, this can be a fun way to help toddlers develop their talents and imagination early on.

Metallophone for Toddlers

Pretty much an expected choice, Metallophones are part of almost everyone’s childhood. This way, the kids can get introduced to individual notes, simple melodies, and even musical intervals at their earliest age.

And the instrument is pretty simple to use and all you have to do is swing the stick and hit the metal bar to get a twinkly sustained note.

Pretty engaging for a toddler and can help develop some motor functions as well.

Metallophones designed for children are all diatonic and usually only feature one octave in the key of C major, compared to the standard chromatic ones. And they are usually pretty cheap as well, like the A-Star MET08STD.

Overall, this is one of the simplest and the most cost-friendly ways to introduce someone to music.

Keyboards for Toddlers

Generally speaking, the keyboards and piano-like instruments are one of the easiest and most fun ways for toddlers to develop their musical interests and motor skills.

Besides, electronic keyboards have an abundance of sounds and presets and the whole playing experience can be both fun, educational, and thoroughly engaging.

And there’s so much stuff to pick from, anything like one simple keyboard up to a whole set with a stool, a stand, and built-in lessons. However, we would argue that something simpler, like the BIGFUN 37 would definitely work better for toddlers than something more complex.

Mini-sized guitars for Toddlers

Generally speaking, string instruments might be a bit tricky for the youngest of ages. Compared to keyboards or metallophones, instruments like guitar require a bit more physical effort to produce one note. However, there are some companies out there that specialized in making guitars for toddlers.

One of those is called Loog and they have been making kid-size and kid-friendly guitars for some time now. They have a few models available, like the Loog Mini Acoustic. What’s more, the company also offers electric guitars with one single-coil pickup. All of these have three strings, extra-short scale length, small bodies, and are super easy to play. Just imagine what kind of a fun experience will it be for a toddler to play an actual electric guitar.

While many other brands create smaller guitars, Loog is currently the most famous guitar builder for kids.

Drums and percussion for Toddlers

Well, the easiest thing to do is to bang on the drums, right? But all the jokes aside, getting a toy drum set or a percussion is a pretty great way for toddlers to get more interested in music. You just hit it and it makes a sound ñ it’s that simple.

What’s more, imitating simple rhythms is significantly easier than imitating melodies, especially at a young age. And, overall, it’s a super fun way to practice coordination. Among the countless different drums and percussion products for kids, there’s anything from simple stuff up to entire drum kits for children.

Handbells

Handbells, in their different forms, are often praised as the best musical instruments for toddlers and older children. While some might argue that they’re too loud, they seem to be pretty attractive to kids in the age group between one and four. Things like bell sets can help develop rhythmic feel, sense for pitch and individual notes, as well as a sense for melodies.

Just like with metallophones, these sets are diatonic and feature one octave in the key of C major.

Aside from the classic swinging bell sets, there are some desk bell diatonic products, like the set of Rhythm Band Handbells. Easily the simplest way to get a toddler more interested in music and help them develop their music talents early on.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations on taking the first step towards your child’s musical education.

Music takes a lot of patience, but can be a great outlet that encourages children to share their emotions, an all too important skill in todays crazy world.

We hope this article helped you choose an instrument for your toddler. If you’ve got any questions, leave them in the comment box below!

Best Distortion Plugins

We’ll cut to the chase, if you’re looking for the best distortion vst plugins, here’s a table that summarizes our tests and reviews:

Plugin Name
Price
Distortion Type
Our Rating
Temper Distortion by Creative Intent FREE Digital Distortion 4/5CHECK PLUGIN
Radiator by SoundToys 157$ (Price may vary depending on existing deals) Tube Distortion 4.8/5CHECK PLUGIN
199$ (Price may vary depending on existing deals) Digital Distortion 4.8/5
Scheps 73 by Waves 199$ (Price may vary depending on existing deals) Harmonic Distortion 4.9/5CHECK PLUGIN
Fabfilter Saturn 145$ (Price may vary depending on existing deals) Tube and Tape Distortion 4.7/5CHECK PLUGIN

The electric guitar has come a long way since its inception. The effects that were difficult to achieve are now available in the form of affordable compact stomp-boxes for any instruments.

We might even take it for granted these days, knowing that some guitar players back in the 1950s and the 1960s even resorted to damaging their amps to achieve distortion.

Fortunately for all of us, there’s no need for such nasty practices these days as you can get all that either in an amp, pedal, multi-effects unit or a digital plugin.

In case you’re recording at home and want to take things one step further, there are a lot of advantages in using the distortion VST plugins for your digital audio workstation.

Instead of re-amping your guitar, or even re-recording it because you used certain pedals, it’s always more practical to have the clean signal processed using different software.

All of the plugins below are designed to work with any standard digital audio workstation, including Ableton Live, Cubase, and others.

Types of saturation

All of the distortion plugins are made with the same intention to completely replicate the good old analog pedals and other signal processing units.

No matter the instrument, all the distortion that you hear happens due to the so-called “clipping.”

When the signal is too strong, it reaches the limitations of the amp or any other device that you’re playing through.

When this happens, the signal gets clipped and you end up with that recognizable “scorched” or “growling” sound.

Saturation effect comes from the days of magnetic tape-based effects and has softer clipping, creating an effect somewhat resembling a mild overdrive that adds more warmth to the tone rather than completely smashing it.

Tube Saturation

Tube saturation is done using vacuum tubes, the ones that we can find in instrument amplifiers or any other distortion or saturation devices.

The vacuum tubes have been praised for their warm tone and dynamic response.

The present-day vintage-oriented tube saturation plugins are designed to imitate that particular sound.

Transistor Saturation

Transistors found their use in guitar effects back in the 1960s, ultimately making it possible to create compact pedals.

The overall tone might be a bit harsher, but this is usually something that rock and metal musicians are looking for. Many fuzz pedals implement transistors which bring the clipping to a whole new level and create that “broken amplifier” tone.

Best free distortion VST

Interestingly enough, there are some pretty decent distortion VST plugins you can use and get some solid tones.

For instance, there’s one called Temper, made by Creative Intent. It might take some time to get used to it and it might seem a bit complicated at first. But once you get a hang of it, you’ll be able to make some pretty diverse sounds. The color of distortion is controlled via Drive, Saturation, and Curve controls. There’s also an additional spectrum analyzer to get the visual representation of what’s going on.

Temper Distortion VST
Maker: Creative Intent
Cost: Free
Plugin Type: Digital Distortion
User Rating: 4/5 (202 votes)
MORE INFO

Then there’s a plugin called Greed Smasher, made by a company called Mercuriall Audio, known for its great pedal replica plugins. The plugin replicates Mesa Boogie Grid Slammer overdrive and features three simple controls ñ level, tone, and gain. Pretty straightforward but works well.

Greed Smasher VST
Maker: Mercuriall Audio
Cost: Free
Plugin Type: Digital Distortion
User Rating: 4/5 (202 votes)
MORE INFO

Made by Wave Arts, Tube Saturator Vintage is a pretty exciting one as it replicates preamps packed with 12AX7 tubes. It’s pretty weird how you can get such a great distortion plugin for free. Featuring volume, drive, 3-band EQ, and the “Fat” mode, there’s a lot of stuff that you can do with it.

Tube Saturator Vintage VST
Maker: Wave Arts
Cost: Free
Plugin Type: Tube Distortion
MORE INFO

Best bass distortion VST

Although it’s kind of hard to get that solid and tight bass distortion that doesn’t sound too muddy, some distortion plugins will help you achieve some more controlled tones.

One of those plugins is Radiator, made by Soundtoys.

This vintage-styled tube-inspired software is a replica of an old rack-mounted tube mixer Altec 1567A. You’ll get some tight natural overdrives for bass with it.

Radiator VST
Maker: Soundtoys
Cost: 157$ (Price may vary depending on existing deals)
Plugin Type: Tube Distortion
User Rating: 5/5 (22 votes)
MORE INFO

Although not a single distortion VST, IK Multimedia Amplitube 4 has an abundance of options for both guitars and basses. Aside from different amps and cabinets, you’ll be able to get so many different replicas of overdrive, fuzz, and distortion pedals with it.

The same could be said about Guitar Rig 5 by Native Instruments.

Although mostly guitar-centric, there are some bass amp and bass distortion options on there that can make turn your bass into a real beast for basically any genre.

Guitar and bass players are usually divided when it comes to Amplitube and Guitar Rig and are inclined to side with one of these two.

However, both of these plugins are pretty solid and deserve all the praise they can get.

Guitar Rig 5
Maker: Native Instruments
Cost: 199$ (Price may vary depending on existing deals)
Plugin Type: Digital Distortion
MORE INFO

Another one that’s worth mentioning is Softube’s Bass Amp Room. It was modeled originally for guitars, but has proven to be a great fit for bass too.

This is perhaps the most popular plugin for rock type bass distortion, and for good reason.

Bass Amp Room
Maker: Softube
Cost: 160$ (Price may vary depending on existing deals)
Plugin Type: Bass Amp
MORE INFO

Best vocal distortion VST

Of course, depending on the style of music that you’re into, there would be some requirements for the distortion in vocals.

For that purpose, you can use the Decapitator by Soundtoys, which would also come in handy for instrument distortions. It’s not that noisy and can bring in just the right amount of drive for lead vocals.

This is another classic plugin that has been used in a wide variety of styles including pop and rock. Fabian “Fab” Dupont, producer of many pop hits from jennifer lopez, and others, calls it “instavibe-in-a-box“.

Soundtoys Decapitator Analog Saturator
Maker: Soundtoys
Cost: 239$ (Price may vary depending on existing deals)
Plugin Type: Analog Saturation Modeler
MORE INFO

FabFilter Saturn provides plenty of options for vocal distortions, including anything vintage or modern based.

What’s great about it is that you can push it over the limits and still get surprisingly clear and recognizable vocal parts.

Franceso Cameli, the Italian producer, has talked at length about how he used this plugin in the latest korn record to get clean sounding vocal quickly and easily.

Fabfilter Saturn Distortion Unit
Maker: Fabfilter
Cost: 145$ (Price may vary depending on existing deals)
Plugin Type: Tube and Tape Distortion
MORE INFO

Finally, another plugin that can distort vocals without turning them into a senseless mush is Avid SansAmp PSA-1. This one is especially handy if you want to make those thin megaphone-like vocal parts that can be often be heard in some sections of rock and metal songs.

Final Thoughts

And that’s a wrap! We hope you enjoyed our brief guide of the best distortion plugins. Feedback is always welcome, feel free to share our content through your social channels. Stay safe, folks.

The BEST Online Music Production Masterclass Course

Investing in an online music production “masterclass” course is one of the best decisions you will make this year.

This might seem like a pretty bold statement, specially for those of you who have previously tried free courses or dabble around some youtube videos on production, but it’s the truth: Knowledge is more important than any piece of gear in your studio. Furthermore, enrolling in one of the below courses is nothing like doing a free course or watching youtube videos.

These online music production masterclass courses allow you to follow a tried and tested structure devised by top producers and engineers, plus incentivises you to follow through, as you have money invested.

Anyways, if you’re looking for a summarised version of this article, check out the below table with our favorite online music production courses, including our very own choice for the best online music production course. And if you are also looking for a music production laptop, we have a comparison and test article with the top models here.

Note: if you are on a mobile device, scroll left and right in the table to see all the entries, and up and down in the cells to see all the content.

Summarizing Table

Course Name Cost Duration Main Focus Our Rating
Editor’s Choice – Best Value
Starts at under 50$
– Over 20 000 hours of video,
– Over 20 books.
– Workflow,
– Plug-Ins + DAWs,
– Recording,
– Production,
– Mixing + Mastering.
9.5/10
Starts at under 20$ / month or under 100$ total
– 6 hours of video,
– Assignments
– Electronic Music Production,
– Synths,
– Music Business,
– Mixing and Mastering,
– Workflow.
9.3/10
Starts at under 20$ / month or under 100$ total$
– 4.5 hours of video – Film Scoring,
– Soundscapes,
– Composing,
– Industry, and More.
8.7/10
Starts at under 20$ / month or under 100$ total$
– 3 hours of video – Hip-hop Production,
– Beat Making,
– Inspiration and Workflow,
– Industry and Motivation.
8.5/10
Point Blank Music School Online
Under 150$
CHECK PRICE
– Huge subject diversity
– Mixing/Mastering
– Dj
– Music Business
9.6/10
Under 150$
– 38 hours of video
– each DAW has it’s own course
– other specific topics have dedicated courses
9/10
EQ Fundamentals
Under 50$
CHECK PRICE
– 2.5 hours of video,
– PDRs,
– Assignments
– EQ,
– Mixing + Mastering,
– All Musical Genres
9.2/10
Under 150$
– 16 weeks – Electronic Music Production,
– Vocal Recording,
– Ableton Live.
9.3/10

What’s so good about Groove3 and why is it our editor’s choice? For starters, it’s simply a great all-rounder beginner course and, as evidenced by the course reviews, has helped many musicians cut their teeth in production. 

The curriculum is varied, the pricing is low, and it focuses on pro-quality video lessons in comparison to many lower-quality user-made courses on sites such as Udemy and Skillshare. 

The best part is that it lets you learn at your own pace and in your own style due to the variety and flexibility of it’s content. This is not simply a walk-through, step-by-step course. One small downside is it is not as ‘official’ as some others – there is no qualification at the end, for example. However, it is a fantastic course overall, so read on for a breakdown.

  • Music style: All
  • Financial Investment: Low
  • Duration: Over 20 000 hours of video + over 20 books. 1 077 Courses 17 979 Individual Tutorials.
  • Main DAW used: All DAWs available.
  • Our Rating: 9.5/10
  • Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced
  • Certificate upon completion: No

PROS:

  1. High quality of content
  2. Content available on all formats and platforms: Video, books, Desktop, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku.
  3. Very affordable on a month-to-month basis
  4. High quality instructors
  5. Most comprehensive library of learning resources

CONS:

  1. Lack of focus
  2. Can be overwhelming

We’ll start with our favorite online music production course: . What an absolute gold mine of music production knowledge.

If you watched all of groove3’s videos back-to-back you’d take over 2 years to finish, probably much more, given that they update the content regularly.

There are tutorials on all topics you can imagine, including all DAWs, Plugins, and musical styles. If you search the forums, it’s often mentioned as a student favorite, along with some of the masterclass courses we’ll review below.

When it comes to price, an all-access pass costs only 89$, with . This represents without a doubt the best value of all courses.

We’ve found this to be a great way to stay focused for idle studio time. Simply browse around their website, find an interesting video, watch it, then apply it to your current project.

Do you want to learn from the pros? If you’ve heard of electronic music, you’ve heard of Deadmau5.  That’s right, Deadmau5’s Masterclass Course was actually the first course we’ve had a chance to review. 

Electronic mixing is an art not a science. On the website MasterClass, designed to let you learn from professionals in their field, Deadmau5 goes deeper than just production and shows you how getting to the beating heart of EDM lets you emulate his distinctive, crisp sound. 

Over six hours of tracks cover melody, composition, and the creative process plus how these areas intersect with production. This learn-from-home course is designed to inspire and delight both fans and those who want to break into EDM, and truly doesn’t disappoint.

  • Music style: EDM / Electronic
  • Financial Investment: Low / Moderate
  • Duration: 6 hours of video + assignments
  • Main DAW used: Ableton, though teachings can be applied to any DAW.
  • Our Rating: 9.3/10
  • Skill Level: Beginner
  • Certificate upon completion: No

Pros:

  1. Very entertaining, huge production value. Very easy to follow through with the teachings.
  2. Very well-rounded. All major topics are discussed (mastering, mixing, synths, drums, music business, live performance, and more).
  3. Composed of videos, assignments, and discussions.
  4. Great community if you’re willing to engage.

Cons:

  1. This 6 hour course will set you back 90$. It’s not a cheap course by any means, but we found the cost/quality relation to be quite good.
  2. It’s a short course. It could benefit from going more in-depth into certain topics.

Course Structure

The course has 23 lessons, all delivered through video classes. It also has assignments and discussions.

The classes touch upon the following topics:

  • The Deadmau5 Production Process
  • Building Your Home Studio
  • Melodic Structures
  • Arrangements
  • Synthesized Sounds
  • Modular Synths
  • Digital Vs. Analog Synths
  • Sound Design with Effects And Processing
  • Drums / Beats
  • Song Structure
  • Remixed
  • Mixing
  • Mastering (includes case study)
  • Starting a Career
  • Music Business
  • On Stage Performance

Our Thoughts

Overall, this is a solid and very well rounded online music production masterclass course. It won’t hold your hand and automatically offer you a career in audio engineering or music production, but if you follow through with all the tips shared, your chances of making it will increase exponentially.

Furthermore, if you take your time to network and reach out to the community, you’ll likely make some useful connections out of this online music production masterclass course.

This is a great course for anyone looking for a well-balanced course on electronic / pop / hip-hop / digital music production, with no specific focus on any are of the music production process, but rather a wholistic approach. It gives you a framework, the one used by deadmau5, to produce a song. It is not a case study, i.e- it won’t show you how deadmau5 produces a song from scratch, but it will show you every single step of the process. We recommend to people that are starting out and want something a bit lighter (shorter) and more fun.

Up next is Hans Zimmer’s online music production masterclass course.This is more niche than some of the courses on this list; it’s specifically for audio professionals – or beginners – interested in the creative production process behind film scoring. This is another option from the great distance-learning site Masterclass, and works as an excellent resource for insight into how to produce film scores. 

There is one downside which we go into more detail later – there is not that much cohesive focus on a step-by-step set of skills. Instead, it is broken up with highlights of Zimmer’s work as a composer. However, it is still a very good course for producers of any skill level.

  • Music style: Film Scoring / Soundtrack / Sound Design
  • Financial Investment: Low / Moderate
  • Duration: 4.5 hours of video + assignments
  • Main DAW used: N/A.
  • Our Rating: 8.5/10
  • Skill Level: Intermediate

Course Structure

  • Themes
  • Story
  • Directors
  • Sound Palettes
  • Creating with Synths
  • Scoring to Picture
  • Scoring Under Dialogue
  • Tempo
  • Music Diary
  • Character
  • Case Study: Frost/Nixon
  • Working With Musicians
  • Feedback & Revisions
  • Audience Feedback
  • Writing Tips
  • Hans’ Journey
  • Learning by Listening
  • Life of a Composer
  • Closing

Our Thoughts

This is a very interesting course. The simple fact that you get to hear Hans Zimmer talk in first person about stuff that he has never revealed on interviews is worth the cost of the program.

However, we found the structure a bit random.

As we mention above, the structure isn’t for everyone. Unlike deadmau5’s course, this program kind of jumped around topics, with one class being solely about Hans’ career and progression in the industry. To be honest, if we wanted to learn about that, we could just check one of the hundreds of interviews that he’s given.

Having said that, there are loads of golden nuggets there about his process, inspiration, and process. It is packed with loads of synthesiser tips as well as general aesthetic in sound design.

Timbaland Masterclass Review: BEST Hip-Hop Music Production Course

To finish off our selection of Masterclass courses, we’ll have a look at Timbaland’s online music production course. Hip-hop can be a challenging genre to produce because of the amount of skill invovled across diferent areas, from melody, unbderstanding of software, and subtler technique. A proper round-up of the best online hip hop production courses could be an article of it’s own. 

Hip-hop history is also more technologically innovative than many genres, from killer sampling that has gone down in legend to the invention of the DJ scratch. However, despite this legacy, it doesn’t take a lot to get started and this course shows you how to investigate the more pop-oriented end of hip-hop.

  • Music style: Hip-Hop / Pop
  • Financial Investment: Low / Moderate
  • Duration: 3.5 hours of video + assignments
  • Main DAW used: Ableton
  • Our Rating: 8.5/10
  • Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate

Course Structure:

  • Studio Session: Making a Beatbox Beat
  • Building Beats: Tim’s Process
  • Making a Beat: Getting Warmed Up
  • Song Origins: “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”
  • Making a Beat: Starting With a Chord Progression
  • Making a Beat: Tweaking and Layering Drums
  • Song Origins: “Pony”
  • Making a Beat: Manipulating Vocal Samples
  • Making a Beat: Creating a Breakdown
  • Song Origins: “Gossip Folks”
  • Making a Beat: Adding a Topline
  • Song Origins: “Are You That Somebody?”
  • Tim’s Influences
  • How to Persevere

Our Thoughts

Despite how important technical skills can be in hip-hop production, we found this masterclass to be the least technical of all online music production masterclass courses reviewed. Perhaps on purpose, as Timbaland’s production process seems to be based a lot around feeling, leaning on his team to fill in the more technical gaps. However, this does mean it’s a very accessible and simple course for beginners that gives you the confidence to begin producing from your bedroom. Plus, the way it takes you from making beats to creating a whole song makes it a great breakdown on the process.

We still found it very useful and inspiring, with some pretty straight forward but useful tips such as thinking about drums through beatbox.

His team of “co-producers” also share some gems on drums layering, chord progression, beatmaking, and more.

If you’re a hip hop head, you’ll love this course. You’ll learn about how Timba produced hits for Missy Elliot, Jay-Z, and others, as well as some inspiring tips on how to succeed in the industry and production studio. If you’re not a hip hop nerd, then you might find it not that inspiring. Though we still recommend purchasing it as part of the masterclass bundle of classes.

Point Blank Music School Online

If you want a qualification with your course, then this is the one for you. Point Blank is an award-winning, well established English music school, which has opened its expertise to the online sector. If you want a serious, life-changing course for a music career in production or sound engineering, you can’t beat it. The sheer diversity of courses that they offer, including Music Business courses, is practically unmatched. This Online Music Production Masterclass Course set is both formal and fun due to its interactive elements.

  • Music style: None in Specific
  • Financial Investment: Medium-high
  • Duration: Depends on the subject of choice.
  • Main DAW used: Ableton
  • Our Rating: 9.5/10.
  • Skill Level: Intermediate-High

The “Online” courses of Point Blank Music School are actual real-time/live lecture by teachers, customised to you as a student. You get to ask questions and interact with your teacher via webcam. Each course thus has it’s own structure.

Our thoughts:

So, this is clearly something different. There are no pre-recorded sessions, like the others, which also explains the high price point in comparison. Essentially, this is an online degree at a virtal university and courses do, in fact, go up to bachelor degree level. As a drawback, this means you have to enroll like you would to a school. The only difference is that  that the school location is your home, if you cannot access the offline schools Point Blank Music School has running in London, L.A., Mumbai, Ibiza and China.

We feel like this product is for the more advanced music production, since asking questions is key here.

If you feel like you have run out of material to study on your own and feel like it’s time to get 1:1 with a teacher who can guide you further then look no further and click the button below to access the Point Blank Music School website.

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Producertech EQ Fundamentals Review

Producertech is a well established music course provider,founded in 2009 by Rob Jones. All their content is high-quality and on demand with clear care and effort put into it. However, f all their online music production courses, EQ fundamentals is one of our favourites. Although DAW knowledge is often transferrable depending on your skill level, what makes this course stand out is it is actually one of the best online music production courses for Ableton specifically.

Here’s why:

  • Music style: None in Specific
  • Financial Investment: Low
  • Duration: 2.5 hours of video + assignments +
  • Main DAW used: Ableton
  • Our Rating: 9/10.
  • Skill Level: Intermediate

Course Structure:

  • Introduction to Frequencies
  • EQ Controls 
  • EQ in Isolation
  • Frequency Demo #3 – Combining the Piano and Sine Wave 
  • The Frequency Spectrum Explained
  • EQ with respect to other parts
  • EQ’ing Drums 
  • Common EQ Practices
  • EQ’ing Kick and Bass
  • EQ on the Master Channel
  • EQ In The Mix

Our thoughts:

This course is, in our opinion, a must-do for all aspiring producers. Having a solid grasp of EQ can be the difference between an amateur-sounding song and a commercial-grade end product.

Producertech’s EQ Fundamentals online music production masterclass course will give you the foundation you need to make clean sounding mixed, at a very accessible cost (25$).

It doesn’t have a rock star teacher or cover 10 different topics, but that is, in our opinion, a strength. There is no magic pill that will make you a successful musician. Instead, the path to success is continued investment in small courses on different topics. Simply put, this is the best specialist course to learn how to EQ online. This laser focused course will give you a very complete foundation on one of the most important skills in the game: EQing.

It also comes with the EXPOSE software, which allows you to “test” your final mix for any potential issues. We were positively surprised by the production quality of the course. Here’s a sample video from the course:

In addition it’s one of the best places to learn to use Ableton if you’re not familiar with the popular alternative DAW. There is a special focus on bass and kick mixing, thus making it slightly more relevant to electronic, hip-hop, and pop producers, though it really suits any kind of music style.

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Berklee’s website claims you can learn in your own time and create your degree online, meaning even though it is one of the most famous music schools in the world, you don’t have to follow strict rules. This institution is a pioneer in online music production courses, having started in 2002! They still are an industry leader and offer the most formal, academic  type of education you’ll find in this list. Yes, you can teach yourself music production online. However, if you want a really good academic course that gives you a degree, this can’t be beaten. 

  • Music style: Electronic
  • Financial Investment: Moderate
  • Duration: Around 6 months (4 hours / week recommended)
  • Main DAW used: Ableton, though teachings can be applied to any DAW.
  • Our Rating: 9.5/10.
  • Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate
  • Certificate upon completion: Yes

Course Structure:

  • The Technology of Music Production
  • Introduction to Ableton Live
  • Creating Sounds for Electronic Music
  • The Art of Vocal Production

Our Thoughts:

This is a solid course for students looking for a serious commitment and some degree of credibility. It teaches all the theoretic background + gives you a solid foundation in ableton production and recording / mastering vocals.

If you’re looking for some credibility in the industry, the Beerklee is something to stick in your CV that can also teach you some good theory.

However, there are more advanced and complete courses in this list in terms of knowledge.

Finally, one of the main advantages is that coursera offers financial aid to certain students.

All in all, it is pretty inexpensive, at 39$/month, and if you’re feeling motivated, you can knock it off in a couple of months, getting a “mini” degree for a very affordable price.

Next up, we have a couple of Udemy courses. Udemy allows users to upload their own courses to teach the world their skills. The website has a mixed bag, so we’ve included several. We can’t fully say what is or isn’t the best Udemy music production course – but this is a good breakdown. We’ll start with probably the most popular music course in the platform, “Music Production in Logic Pro X”.

Udemy has a lot of online music production course programs on it’s website, they mostly have a similar structure to the Logic X one which is our reference.

This course was developed by Digital Music Masters, a well-established music school.

  • Music style: None in Specific
  • Financial Investment: Low
  • Duration: 38 hours of video + articles and resources
  • Main DAW used: Logic Pro X
  • Our Rating: 9/10.
  • Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate

Our Thoughts

This is mostly for those more advanced. What we like is that you can just pay for one “topic” and not buy the whole online music production masterclass course package like with the others. Thus, it’s more of a specialized music production course, in the same way that ones aimed at skills like EQ or reverb are. You just get to Udemy, shop for what you want to know and that’s it. 

These courses are mostly focused on DAW workflows, with some specific items covering hardware gear like the Maschine and others focusing on specific sub-genres like music for games. All in all, we think it is good product if you just want to fill some specific empty spaces in your skill arsenal.

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Final Thoughts

We hope that the above suggestions help you kickstart your music production career/hobby. It may seem daunting to teach yourself music production online and that’s why we recommend courses to make things easier and give a more comprehensive view of what a killer mixing and mastering process looks like. Honestly, all of these have made the list because they are worth your investment in both time and money.

This article is in constant update as we try new courses, so if you have any recommendations, please post them below in the comments section!

United Plugins Front DAW is FREE for a limited time

For the next week you can get free Front DAW VST/AU plugin by United Plugins.

Front DAW plugin emulates three types of vintage console sounds.

Description from plugin developer:

“The digital world with its clarity and accuracy lacks some vibe from the old times. This is why English producer and remixer Greg Brimson, also United Plugins powered artist, approached us with his idea for a dream plugin. ‘Create a front door for every recording, and call it Front DAW, guys,’ said he, ‘so that every track would have a true analogue input.’ Thanks to him you can turn your DAW Mixer into a real Analogue Console.”

Get Free Front DAW plugin from United Plugins website

Native Instruments Kontakt 6 Review

On the surface it seems like the to Kontakt upgrade, isn’t much different from its predecessor, Kontakt 5. However, a closer look will reveal some very welcome additions for library builders/creators and users.

Here’s a summarised table of our findings:

Kontakt 6- New Features

– 3 New Instruments: Ethereal Earth (combines digital synthesis with traditional instruments), Analog Dreams (vintage, classic synth sounds), and Hybrid Keys (a new twist on classic keyboards)
6 New Effects: Replika Delay, Room Reverb: Hall Reverb, Plate Reverb, Cry Wah, Mod Pack.
New Standalone App: Creator Tools- For optimizing workflows and libraries using Kontakt scripts.
Over 40 wavetables that can be used in any other audio application plus the new wavetable module
New Drag and Drop UI– samples, MIDI files, and arrays can be dropped into an instrument’s user interface.


And if you are interested in a music production laptop aswell, we have an updated comparison and review here

Kontakt 6 Upgrade: New Sounds

The most noticeable addition is the first 3 instrument libraries from the Kontakt Play Series:

  • Ethereal Earth (combines digital synthesis with traditional instruments)
  • Analog Dreams (vintage, classic synth sounds), and
  • Hybrid Keys (a new twist on classic keyboards) showcase Kontakt’s new effects, which we will go into more detail later, as well as the new wavetable module.

Each instrument has 8 easily accessible macro knobs right on the face of the GUI that correspond to the 8 hardware knobs on all Komplete Kontrol Series keyboards and Maschine hardware except for the Maschine Micro models. There are also 2 sound sources for each instrument, one of the macro knobs is used to blend these together to your particular taste. The other 7 macro knobs are tied to parameters and effects under the hood so even more dramatic changes can be made to any sound just by adjusting the other macro knobs.

Of course you can go beneath the surface and access the effects by clicking the wrench tool on the top left of the instrument panel if you wish to fine tune your sound.

You still get the 43GB Kontakt Factory Library and Retro Machines MK2 with the new Kontakt 6 upgrade.

But besides that there’s not much else for those of us that use Kontakt for triggering library sounds in our productions. With that being said, there are a myriad of presets in each new instrument to experiment with for a very long time.

Kontakt 6 Upgrade: New Effects

Kontakt 6 now includes Replika Delay which is based on the NI plug-in REPLIKA XT, 3 algorithmic reverbs (Room Reverb, Hall Reverb andPlate Reverb) and Cry Wah, a classic wah-wah effect normally used on guitars. You’ll have to go under the hood to access them, but it will be worth the time as these are really high quality effects.

In particular, Replika Delay has additional distortion, filters and chorus effects that can be applied to the delay’s feedback allowing you to create some very interesting textures.

The room and hall reverbs can also be modulated in real time.

Kontakt 6 upgrade: New Wavetable Module

Native Instruments have also included over 40 wavetables that can be used in any other audio application in addition to the new wavetable module. This allows you to combine wavetable synthesis with sampler parameters from within Kontakt 6.

Library builders might be pleased with the new UI windows for KSP that will enable them to get visual feedback from wavetables as they build instruments.

At present, these windows can only be seen on the 3 new instruments, but certainly will appear on new instruments by NI and 3 party developers in the future.

Kontakt 6 upgrade: New Creator Tools

This is actually a standalone application designed to help builders be more efficient during the building process. It has 2 elements: a Debugger and an Instrument Editor.

The Debugger is designed to find and fix any issues with builder’s code. It connects with all running instances of Kontakt in plug-in or standalone.

The Instrument Editor also connects with all running instances of Kontakt and automates repetitive tasks allowing the builder to focus on the more creative aspects of library building.

For example, the Instrument Editor takes information from the pitch and amplitude to automatically map them to the right key and velocity layer based only on audio information from the samples by the Instrument Editor.

With the new kontakt it’s much easier now to rearrange, add or remove groups and zones as well as edit some of their properties such as tune, volume and mapping.

Overall

As a long time user of Kontakt and other NI products, I think it’s more feasible to purchase one of the that contain the full version of Kontakt 6 than it is to upgrade from the single Kontakt instrument from the user perspective.

makes more sense in this case because you will get Kontakt 6 along with lots of other sounds and instruments. Maybe this is the way Native Instruments wanted it to be, who knows.

For sound developers and new users this is a solid purchase in my opinion as new and more interesting libraries will be created using the new features and new users won’t be overwhelmed with the vast selection of sounds that are included in Komplete Bundles.

Virus TI 3? No, it is Valkyrie

Last week Exodus Digital showed their Valkyrie synth that looks (and probably sounds) exactly how long-waited Virus TI 3 might sound.

Valkyrie has two groups of five 32x oversampled oscillators per voice (a total of 1280 actual oscillators) with hard sync, ring mod and FM, dual PCM wavetables with 4,096 (!) waves available, dual analog ladder modelling filters with 12 and 24dB/octave options, an advanced modulation matrix, a killer stereo hypersaw, an arpeggiator, 3 EGs and 3 stereo LFOs with 64 shapes and MIDI sync. It is 8 part multitimbral with a dedicated nine module FX unit per part including shelving EQ with sweepable mid and formant filter, dual (pre- and post-FX) tube response limiters, 5 algorithm distortion unit, chorus/flanger, DDL, a truly wonderful 6-stage phaser plus reverb. All of these run in stereo at 96kHz floating point. With the exception of dual filters/dual voice mode which uses two voices per note, Valkyrie ALWAYS delivers 128 notes of polyphony regardless of settings or effects. There are no compromises.

UPDATE: Exodus Digital partnered with Waldorf and Valkyrie will be released as Waldorf Kyra synth.