Future Music Magazine publishes final issue

https://ra.co/news/81362

It was nothing future about it anyway; was a boring advertising magazine for a long time 

Because we finally got to the future?

edit:

I did buy a couple of issues of Future Music, about 20 years ago when I was making music, they had a cd on the cover with free samples etc.

Overall the magazine gave me the slightly queezy feeling that there was a whole mini industry encouraging hobbyists to buy this and buy that in the hope that it would suddenly make them good at music. But that the people selling the stuff knew that most people would never make good use of it.

i was talking about 20 yrs ago

Pre-Internet days this was where I first heard about (and sometimes heard - if they were featured on the CD) many of the artists I still listen to, to this day. The album reviews covered stuff I'd never seen written about anywhere else (Wire magazine wouldn't be on my radar for another decade or so)

Was the first place I found out about VSTs - with a collection of free ones on their CD, first time I'd seen written what an Autechre or an Aphex Twin was. First place I learned about sampling and heard early synths (which all sounded a bit too farty for uneducated 11 year old me)

Still have the FM1 CD  (the one full of samples) ripped and sitting on my main hard drive

'93 till around '00 was no doubt its peak run, but as mentioned the internet pretty much killed its relevancy

Sad times, but definitely foreseen - not bought an issue for well over 10 years. Might grab a copy of the final issue as tribute to the many I bought in the 90s (if I can find a newsagents that's still open)

i just looked, got two i'm pretty sure i bought for the sample CDs + one has some 'Ableton tips & tricks' which was from the time period i was getting serious with Ableton, but was before there was a ton of tutorial information easily available online.

i guess it's just hard to adapt, idk how well the "Future Music" branding was related to their actual output? it's a weird market.... i think Sound On Sound are more respected/versatile for their gear reviews, even to this day, and have made some decent transition to 'digital' issues i believe.

Now they have to rename it to Past Music Magazine

in early 90s i'd grab it from this record store near where i worked on south beach. "Uncle Sams" was a decent record store. I'd then have something to read while sitting on my ass in the museum. i didn't know anything about anything gear related back then so was just starting figure shit out. i didn't own any gear or know anything about making electronic music so it was cool to see studios and collect information. 

i have a handful of tapeOp magazine issues and sound on sound issues w/good interviews and of course, saved this one issue of future music. man.. i'm fucking old. i remember reading the gear list like "that's a lot of stuff". they must've had a laugh putting together that list. 

edit. i think this was when they were promoting Draft 7.30. ??? 

A little “tahnaiya russell” to say goodbye with… 

for the one or two of you who don’t know the story…

  On 9/30/2024 at 12:13 AM, ignatius said:

in early 90s i'd grab it from this record store near where i worked on south beach. "Uncle Sams" was a decent record store. I'd then have something to read while sitting on my ass in the museum. i didn't know anything about anything gear related back then so was just starting figure shit out. i didn't own any gear or know anything about making electronic music so it was cool to see studios and collect information. 

i have a handful of tapeOp magazine issues and sound on sound issues w/good interviews and of course, saved this one issue of future music. man.. i'm fucking old. i remember reading the gear list like "that's a lot of stuff". they must've had a laugh putting together that list. 

edit. i think this was when they were promoting Draft 7.30. ??? 

Expand  

I get so nostalgic when reading those old ae interviews! I really liked how open they were about their gear and how they always knew exactly what and how they wanted things to be done…  

p.s. speaking of that period, anybody has the wire magazine interview from 2003? Pls