Guitar Rig is Native Instruments very own guitar amp and cabinet simulator. Much of their modules included in the software is an overt nod to a real-world amp, microphone or guitar pedal, however as they don’t own the copyright, many of the names are allusions to the gear they are emulating.
This article was originally published back in 2015. As with other well-read posts on this site, I’m trying to revisit some to tidy up some of the writing and audio and generally make them a little more professional.
The track I want to look at today is Erykah Badu’s 2007 single Honey. It’s produced by 9th Wonder, who has worked with Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z, Drake, Destiny’s Child, J.
There’s a whole variety of synthesis types available ranging from things you’ve probably come across like subtractive, wavetable and granular to lesser known techniques like additive, phase distortion, Karplus-Strong and vector.
Next to Aphex Twin, there is perhaps no-one more synonymous with the cringe inducing term “IDM” than Tom Jenkinson, better known to most as Squarepusher. Part virtuoso bass player, part programming wizard, Squarepusher has had a fantastically eclectic career, wowing both bedroom producers and wannabe Fleas alike.
Massive is wavetable synthesiser released by Native Instruments back in 2007 to great fanfare. It’s known for its brutal sub ripping basslines, formant filtered vocaloid patches and grizzly distorted effects.
When first unboxing Reaktor 5 back in 2000-and-something I was blown away by the capabilities of these other-worldly synths, drum machines, granular sample destroying effects and sequencers, but it was some of the generative tools that really captured my imagination.
In the 1970s, British mathematician John Conway devised Game of Life a simple turn based zero player game in-which patterns of cells evolve through generations, either surviving or not based on simple rules.
Native Instruments’ FM8 is monster of a synthesiser capable of a vastly broad palette of sounds ranging from brutal Skrillex transformer-type bass to searing pads and leads to late 80s/early 90s rave sounds and beyond.
For the last couple of weeks I’ve been butchering my perfectly functional Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ soundcard. The end goal is to place it inside my portable audio rig, which is a combination PC and MIDI controller currently at the Jack Skellington stage – all bones and no skin.