About

Thank you for visiting. We hope you will join us in our shared passion for electronic music. Our focus is to help you create amazing pieces of electronic music.

Our Mission

We want to help anyone with the passion, become a professional Electronic Music Producer … a Superstar in Electronic Music Production.

So, why are we here?

Dappledark Studios was founded by a group of passionate musicians. Our primary aim is to simplify the music production process whilst retaining the flexibility producers need to create professional-grade output.

We are also trying to solve quite a few common problems that we have faced over the years when trying to produce music using the ‘industry-standard’ DAWs.

Focus on complete songs … not just loops

Most DAWs have a vast and open expanse of space called a timeline. It is often unstructured and any labelling of sections is simply text-based, with no underlying intelligence.

Given most producers are trying to create complete songs, which have multiple levels of additional complexities, compared to the production of simple loops, we focused on the creation of an intelligent timeline that actually understands song structures.

The idea is to create or generate ideas for drum loops, melodies and sample-based loops and have the ability to drag and drop these ideas onto the song structures. You can even ask LOCKDOWN to create song arrangements for you.

Focus on Electronic Music

We set out to create a studio and a workflow that is tailored for electronic music. We found most DAWs are pretty general-purpose and cater for a wide range of musical tastes. Although there is universality in the production process, regardless of genre, electronic music has a rhythmic, beat-oriented and repetitive nature.

Electronic music has heavy reliance on the ‘bottom-end’ and focuses on the use of FX units, not just for sound shaping and corrections, but for rhythm, progression and even for melodic interludes.

LOCKDOWN is designed-for-purpose.

Simplifying and shedding the legacy baggage

We found most ‘industry-standard’ DAWs cater for a huge range of legacy requirements, including the replication of analogue studio concepts into digital, etc. If you love this kind of thing then that’s great, but if your primary aim is to complete a song, primarily in the box, then this complexity can be unnecessary and daunting.

Be honest, have you ever returned to open a project and wondered what on earth is going on with all the routing? … and where on earth is that sound actually coming from and what on earth is shaping it? … We’ve been there :)

LOCKDOWN provides a pattern-based approach, including the encapsulation of FX Racks within each pattern that act as pre-fader sound shapers. Tracks are conveniently organised and filtered through pre-defined FX Racks on the master sequencer that act as post-fader sound shapers.

Fair and Equitable Licenses

We are pretty certain most of us don’t really want to disclose the true cost of our passion. There are many licensing models if you are passionate about music production, ranging from free to unlimited price tags. Often, you’ll have to pay for upgrades, including upgrading your plugin libraries.

It can be quite frustrating when you pay for software, then pay for upgrades and then realise some of your plugins require upgrades before you can load your projects. It’s not just the cost, we often felt we had to be software specialists rather than musicians.

With LOCKDOWN, there is a FREE Lite Edition. We also have a lifetime license with free upgrades, which also includes access to the integrated sample library. The idea is that you are always up to date and focused on music production.

Integrated Sound Library

When we calculated the costs for DAWs, with subscriptions to sample libraries and plugins, etc., we needed reviving :)

Our approach is that you sign up and start creating. We have an integrated sound library with over half a million samples that is constantly evolving. No need for the extra expense, configuration or management overhead.

Reducing the cost burden for plugins

There was a time when an EQ, Compressor and Reverb Unit would have had to suffice.

In LOCKDOWN, you have access to 50 FX Units … and growing, including core units as well as a range of unique and innovate units that can create quite jaw-dropping output. Try the PHAT range and let us know what you think. So, no need for the additional expense and installation hassles. You can create infinite patterns, infinite racks and infinite combinations of 50 FX Units in each rack. We think you’ll need a bigger boat :)

If you’ve read this far, we are surprised :) … why not join our growing and passionate community?

Created by sound enthusiasts for sound enthusiasts ... why not take LOCKDOWN for a test drive today? Try It, We Think You'll Love It!