DIGITAL NATION 71
FABRIK C
Developer: TC Electronics
Platform: Mac, PC
Price: £144.99 (www.dv247.com)
VOICES OF PASSION
Fabrik C is a quirky, charismatic dynamics and
equalisation plug-in that partners the other creative
Developer: EastWest Telefunken Ela M 251 [arguably the finest microphone program in TC Electronics’ ‘Fabrik’ range – Fabrik R. C, here,
Platform: Mac, PC ever produced] – and so with the mono functions in we assume stands for “compressor” or “channel” because
Price: £225 (www.dv247.com) VOP you can choose which microphone you want the of its channel-strip like abilities, where R equals “reverb”.
sound to play through to alter a vocal’s timbre. The Fabrik C is very visually orientated, and Kmag believes it is
This virtual instrument is a sample player featuring former microphone sounds a little bit warmer. Often aimed at producers who are either:
female vocalists recorded from Wales, Syria, India, the results here are subtle, but if you use other PLAY
Bulgaria and America. Its content is described by products they can be drastic; particularly when the Beginners to music production that will be aided by
its developers as suitable “for film, TV and game sound has been recorded through different amplifier the strong visual emphasis in Fabrik C. Sick of dull,
composers as well as songwriters, new age artists configurations, as is the case with guitars. functional dynamics plug-ins and want something funkier.
and Zen horticulturists”. They forget to mention dance Demanding of smoother, analogous control over dynamics.
music and rap, because its sounds are perfect for all There are eight gigabytes of vocal samples in Voices
those Timbaland wannabes who use ethnic, female Of Passion. Their quality is very high in terms of their If you fall into any of these categories, you’ll warm to
vocals to spice up the vibes in their music. creative purpose. Some of the voices, the Syrian and Fabrik C instantly. It’s an easy-to-use Swiss Army Knife for
Indian for example, are vocal phrases; many different sonic processing, containing a 4-band 48 Bit precision EQ,
The first thing you’ll notice when booting up Voices Of variants are mapped to notes, which are triggered by a de-esser and multi-band/single-band compressor. Inside
Passion is its new interface. Called PLAY, this is the wealth of key switches. They sound realistic. One can Fabrik C’s simple, one-window design, colourful pixels
arch evolution of EastWest’s sample player – easy to alter starting times via a modulation wheel, which is a depict what is known as MINT (Meta Intuitive Navigation
use, intuitive and uncluttered. Remember the days nice feature that helps to edge syllables into stubborn Technology) on the right, which gives the user total
of the compromised Native Instruments Kompakt productions, or just add a bit of variety. The American mastery of its compressor’s parameters – a graph where
player in EastWest products? It’s history. PLAY is and Welsh singers, on the other hand, can be played you move illustrated balls to change settings. The ‘source’
designed extremely well, so the complex and powerful on a keyboard like a virtual instrument, which sounds ball, for example, can be moved around destinations
algorithms behind Voices Of Passion make it easy to excellent in the frame of dance music – drum & bass, like ‘rock’, ‘pop’ and ‘female vocal’, to which Fabric C’s
manipulate sounds into something special. tech house and electro house. The Bulgarian singer compressor will change accordingly, leaving you with the
is a mix between all of the aforementioned – singing appropriate dynamic shape.
Diving deeper into the interface, you’ll discover a unintelligible vocal meanderings on singular notes
delay feature, a top convolution reverb with impulses that can be slotted into almost any genre of music. The best part of Fabrik C, aside from its cute EQ, is
recorded by EastWest especially, a filter, master One downside here is that these vocals don’t sound clearly its compression section and the ability to use its
volume, solo, mute, ADT [emulation of the classic 100% natural if they’re manipulated too much; but in vector graph in adjusting input and output gains. To do
chorus effect popularized in the ’70s and ’80s by the case of dance music this can be a good thing. this on a regular compressor you have to edit settings
uniquely-manipulated tape heads) and an envelope. like threshold, ratio, input gain, output gain, attack,
Give this package a seriously look if you want to put release and so on. Fabrik C, however, does this for you
An advanced feature of interest is ‘Channel Source’ at top-quality vocals in your music. automatically. The program really does take the pain out of
the top of the window, which is especially useful for basic compression – especially multi-band compression
technologically minded music producers demanding PROS for the beginner. Amateurs and even intermediates can
control over their sound’s stereo image. This gives True legato intervals very easily make a mix sound thinner and more brittle by
direct access to the stereo file. Here, you can mono 64 Bit engine – the next generation of sound incorrect use of compression, and this is where Fabrik
sum a sound (where the left and right channels are Tons of sounds C comes in – it always boosts the mix louder. A quick
added together into monophonic ones); choose “mono Brilliant interface mention must go to the De-Esser in Fabrik C, which quite
from left” (only using the left signal) and “mono from simply zooms in on the offending sibilant frequencies in an
right”. All the singers in Voices Of Passion were recorded CONS audio file and removes them for you.
with two microphones – an RCA 44 Ribbon and a Can sound repetitive
Kmag recommends Fabrik R as a mastering and sound-
processing tool for beginners and intermediates. Whilst
Developer: Time+Space professionals could be interested in Fabrik C as a quick,
Format: WAV, REX2, APPLE LOOPS, REFILL. creative method for tarting up individual elements, it might
Other: Double DVD, 8 gigabyte, 5,000 samples not be deep enough in a scenario where tweaking down to a T
Price: £89.95 absolutely necessary. That said, many professional producers
who are interested in multi-band compression but can’t quite
Kmag readers into rap should make sure they pick up this set find the time to master it will find Fabrik C essential. It’s very
of samples from Time+Space. Premier Beats is a hip hop pack easy to use and, above all, fun, which is more than can be
of epic proportions – leaning towards the Bedford Stuyvesant said for most plug-ins in this digital age.
sound popularised by DJ Premier. Whilst you can meld the beats
inside into many hard-edged genres – drum & bass, breaks and PROS
so on – they work wonders in rap, and the sounds are refreshingly Inviting interface
musical and mellow-tinged. If you need a sample pack for video Takes the pain out of compression
games or TV ads, this is definitely the one, as everything gets Multi-band compression, the easy way
the toe tapping within seconds. It’s high quality all the way then
PREMIER BEATS – don’t believe us? Check www.timespace.com for a demo, and you CONS
AND INSTRUMENTALS wont be disappointed. Not deep enough for technical producers
No analogue distortion simulation
K70-72_DigitalNation1.indd 71 24/4/08 10:30:03
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