trax.house archive

issue 102 · 2026-10-18 · for people who make house

Producing house with the plugins that shipped with Cubase in the '90s

The Steinberg Classics bundle is a time capsule from when VST was new — and the synth inside it has a filter envelope permanently patched at full depth. Today's lead picks apart every plugin, finds the tricks that make them sing, and somehow gets a whole house track out of them.

◆ start here

▶ Steinberg Classics: 30 years old, still full of surprises

Neon's filter envelope is permanently open — a slow attack hides it on short notes. VB-1's shape knob sweeps from saw bass to FM slap, and CS-40's mono mode gets you a wobbly reece. A full house track, built purely with the 1996 plugin bundle.

watch →
📡 on the radar

M-VAVE FM-1 is everywhere — custom firmware like OberVave turns it into a polysynth, and a browser emulator lets you test-drive it. Rekordbox chatter hints at new performance tricks, and iLok debates are back following the Number Seven sale.

◢ free & gear

Number Seven: Bricasti M7 convolution with algorithmic movement(€84.50)

Core ships 136 captured M7 presets with algorithmic modulation that static IRs can't do. Key the reverb compressor off the dry so vocals duck the tail. Core is €84.50 until Oct21; Professional adds the remaining presets and surround support.

⏳ expires in 4 days · 2 min read · deal →

◢ the word

Oberheim polysynth firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1, free on GitHub

Two oscillators per voice into a SEM-style filter that morphs low-pass to high-pass, with per-voice drift. Flashes your FM-1 into an 8-voice American polysynth.

4 min read · read →

AI slop and affiliate scams flood music submissions — a view from the inbox

16 AI-generated tracks arrived in one writer's inbox over three hours. A Kyiv operation now has a dozen copycats pushing reseller links for fake festivals. The tell: insanely polite praise that falls apart on close reading.

7 min read · read →
♫ In Rotation
 
— LarryLuxe's pick
📊 The Charts
 
Market read: Jackin House has the most charting tracks this week
Across 10 house genre charts for the week of 2026-10-12, Jackin House has the most charting tracks: 317 in all, 163 of them new entries, from 153 labels. Label share is most concentrated in Indie Tech, where the top 5 labels hold 26% of charting tracks.
Tech House has the widest label spread this week — 177 labels behind 275 charting tracks.
Too Many Rules is heating up in Jackin House
Too Many Rules has 13 tracks on the Jackin House chart this week (plus 3 on a second chart), including 8 new entries and 6 inside the top 50, spread across 8 artists.
One release, 03am Swag, is 4 of the run.
Freerange is heating up in Deep House
Freerange has 10 tracks on the Deep House chart this week (plus 3 on a second chart), including 4 new entries and 5 inside the top 50, spread across 10 artists.
▲ #11 ANOTR — Out of My Head (Extended Mix)
new entry · ▶ hear · profile →
▲ #10 Danism, Arnold Jarvis, Lost In — Reciprocated Love (Lost in Extended Remix)
new entry
🎯 Tonight's Move
Kick beater expansion with Ableton Multiband Dynamics
Your dull kick cuts through the mix with its own click, no hi-hat layers.
  1. 1. Load Multiband Dynamics on kick, then add Saturator after it with Output Clip enabled.
  2. 2. Solo the top band and adjust crossover points to isolate the beater/click region.
  3. 3. In the Above section, drag the ratio down until it shows 1:0.5 (upward expansion at ~2:1).
  4. 4. Shorten the attack: from the default 5 ms, drag it shorter until the transient snap is fully caught.
  5. 5. If the top gets harsh, ease the ratio to 1:0.7 for a smoother beater lift.
Stock path: lull
Why it works: Upward expansion boosts signals above threshold; shortenin attack lets the expander react to the very start of the transient, so your kick's own click becomes prominent.

🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — A ghost from the '90s has possessed your filter section — let it play through, the envelope is already open.

Back tomorrow with more tools for the session.

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for working house producers with a track already half-finished.

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covered in this issue: steinberg classics · zvenson obervave