The core of Operator's voice architecture consists of four oscillators and a resonant multimode filter. This setup allows for both subtractive and frequency modulation (FM) synthesis. In addition to a wide selection of sine waveforms, which faithfully emulate the aliasing artifacts of classic hardware FM synthesizers, each of Operator's oscillators can also generate saw, square, and triangle waveforms, as well as noise. Each oscillator can either deliver audio signals to the output or modulate other oscillators. Following Live's refreshing design philosophy, Operator is powerful without hogging screen real estate. Every parameter of Operator can be automated or remote-controlled via MIDI, allowing you to get completely hands on with an external controller. To purchase or try Operator, simply download the 4.1 update of Live from the Ableton website. An activation code for Operator can be purchased online for $149.
www.ableton.com

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Part of Experiments In Sound, TestDrive will feature the lab results of our DJ Experiments so that everyone can get in on the action. Take the latest electronic music releases, mix vigorously with bleeding-edge DJ technology in a large beeker, and then cook the hell out of it! Be the first to hear about TestDrive by joining Futuremusic Direct.

Futuremusic wants to thank everyone who participated in The Next Big Thing 2004. John Digweed, Beatport, Alienware, M-Audio, Native Instruments, IK Multimedia, PVDJ, PK Graphics, Ableton, The DubHouse, Propellerheads, Technics, FreeFloat, The Church, PCDJ and every DJ who entered this year's event thank you. From the sheer number of quality mixes, we can tell you that dance music is thriving in the United States. The amount of outstanding talent and creativity really blew us away, and every DJ who's putting their heart, mind and soul behind the music is a winner. John Digweed has made his decision and the winner is...