Nathaniel Wing’s N-Stereo for macOS, Windows, and Linux is FREE for a limited time
Developer Nathaniel Wing’s N-Stereo for macOS, Windows, and Linux is now available for free for a limited time. Stereo enhancers and effects plugins have been relatively popular in 2026, with multiple freebies coming just in the last few months. In July, we had a couple of stereo-widening freebies with Spread by Angelic Vibes and Buchart Audio’s [...]
View post: Nathaniel Wing’s N-Stereo for macOS, Windows, and Linux is FREE for a limited time

Line 6 launches FREE Helix Stadium Native Intro amp plugin
Line 6 has launched Helix Stadium Native Intro, a free amp and effects plugin for macOS and Windows. Helix Stadium Native launched on August 4th, 2026, and the Intro license is a permanent free version of the new Helix Stadium Native plugin with fewer models. I also think it is worth clarifying what this does [...]
View post: Line 6 launches FREE Helix Stadium Native Intro amp plugin

SoundBridge: Virtual Collaboration on steroids
Choosing a DAW is a weirdly personal thing. Most of us end up with one of the familiar names, learn its shortcuts, build our templates, complain about it often, and then keep using it for years. That is part of the challenge for SoundBridge. It has been around for a long time (originally as Lumit), [...]
View post: SoundBridge: Virtual Collaboration on steroids

Steinberg celebrate VST & HALion anniversaries Steinberg are currently celebrating two significant anniversaries, with this week marking the 30th year of the VST plug-in format and the 25th anniversary of the HALion platform. 

GANUE Audio RivetRivet is a free, input-driven FET compressor. There is no threshold: you drive the signal into the compressor with INPUT and make it up with OUTPUT - the harder you push, the more it compresses. Character, by the input. What makes it versatile is REVISION: five selectable voicings, each modelled on a different generation of the classic FET compressor family with the Assay DSP Engine - real hardware measured, then rebuilt from scratch in original code. Not a sample, not a clone. THE FIVE REVISIONS A - Gritty and early. Odd-harmonic bite, softest and earliest ratios. AE - The most coloured. Rich, refined even-harmonic warmth. LN - Warm and smooth. Even-harmonic warmth, widest knees. F - Modern and tight. Clean at rest, hardest knees. H - Clean and neutral. The default reference voice. Features Five compressor revisions (A / AE / LN / F / H), saved with presets. Fixed ratios: ALL / 20 / 12 / 8 / 4 (AE: ALL / 20 / 8 / 4 / 2) - ALL is all-buttons-in. Fast reversed ATTACK / RELEASE (approx. 0.1-17 ms / 71-573 ms), shown as real time. DRIVE harmonic colour stage (oversampled, anti-aliased). GR LIMIT soft ceiling, all the way to AMP (0 dB - colour only, no reduction). Parallel MIX. Sidechain: HPF + 4-band detector EQ with adjustable Q, internal or external, detector solo. Look (detection): look-ahead / look-behind detector timing. Oversampling up to 8x, separate realtime and offline settings. Stereo modes: linked Stereo, Dual Mono, M/S. Analog-style GR VU, IN/GR/OUT bar meters, Comp Curve / GR History / SC EQ displays. Gain-reduction readout in Studio One's mixer (PreSonus host extension). UI scaling 100-200%. 31 factory presets across Vocal / Drums / Bass / Guitar / Bus / Master / FX / Sidechain. Formats Windows 10 or later (64-bit): VST3. macOS 11.0 or later: VST3 + AU (Universal - Apple Silicon and Intel). FREE MEANS FREE No license key, no iLok, no online activation, no locked features. Use it in personal and commercial productions. The full PDF manual is included in the download. Made by GANUE Audio. Read More

ASCAP Employees Give Back to Communities Worldwide During Volunteer DayPictured: ASCAP volunteer cleaning up at Theodore Roosevelt Park in NYC

ASCAP has released a statement to report that, "On Thursday, July 23, ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, held its annual company-wide ASCAP Volunteer Day, bringing together hundreds of employees across its offices in the US, London and remote workforce to support local communities through service projects. ASCAP first launched its volunteer program, 'ASCAP Notes the Cause,' in 2016."

"In New York City, ASCAP Chief Executive Officer and Billboard's 2026 Women in Music 'Executive of the Year' Elizabeth Matthews joined the organization’s NYC-based employees at Theodore Roosevelt Park on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, where volunteers promoted environmental sustainability by planting, mulching, constructing garden beds and assisting with park cleanup efforts," they add.

“ASCAP is built on the idea of doing right by our collective of songwriters and composers, so volunteering is a natural extension of who we are,” said Matthews. “We are laser-focused on the greater good of our members by delivering the highest royalty distributions with the lowest overhead, and we also believe in working for the communities we live in. It is inspiring to see hundreds of our employees step away from their desks and give their time and energy to the schools, parks and organizations that make our communities stronger.”

ASCAP Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Matthews and Chief Legal & Business Affairs Officer Clara Kim at Theodore Roosevelt Park

"Service is at the heart of ASCAP's culture. ASCAP employees are deeply committed to serving our members, strengthening the rights of creators and giving back to our local communities especially for those in need," Matthews told MC. "ASCAP 'Notes the Cause' is a reflection of those same values and has the added benefit of bringing us together as colleagues to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others."

The statement elaborates: "Across New York, ASCAP employees participated in nine volunteer initiatives addressing environmental stewardship, education, senior engagement and community well-being. Volunteers led elementary school students in recreational and fitness activities during a field day at P.S. 020 Anna Silver on the Lower East Side and supported school revitalization efforts at P.S. 145 in the Upper West Side through painting and gardening."

"Other volunteers spent time with senior community members through healthy eating workshops and arts-and-crafts activities at JASA and VISIONS Center on Aging. At the New York Cares office, employees created floral arrangements and seed pods for a local senior center."

"Projects also took place at ASCAP’s New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and London offices. Employees prepared envelopes for The ASCAP Foundation’s fall fundraising appeal, painted character-shaped mural pieces to be donated to P.S. 161 in West Harlem, wrote Letters For Elders, collaborated on Missing Maps for humanitarian organizations; assembled gift packages with Project Glimmer to help under-resourced young women; and assembled materials for people with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities for Bag Books and for underserved, homeless and foster care youth for the Assistance League of Los Angeles."

"The annual global volunteer day reflects the same values that guide the organization’s work on behalf of songwriters and composers. With nearly $2 billion in revenue in 2025, and delivering 90 cents of every dollar collected back to its members as royalties, ASCAP is member-driven and community-oriented. Now in its fourth consecutive year, the annual volunteer program gives employees the opportunity to step away from their daily roles serving creatives for one day to contribute directly to organizations meeting a range of local needs. The annual volunteer day joins programs and initiatives including company jam sessions, a monthly songwriter performance and interview series, and other in-office events aimed at fostering a strong sense of community across ASCAP."

Visit ascap.com for more info.The post ASCAP Employees Give Back to Communities Worldwide During Volunteer Day first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

SpaceX has bought $329M worth of Tesla Megapacks so far this yearThe purchase illustrates just how interconnected Elon Musk's universe of companies are.

Spotify says it doesn’t need deals with all the majors to launch its AI covers and remixes toolComments landed hours after Spotify announced a licensing agreement with Merlin
Source

Strengthening 3D Prints with a Carbon-Fiber Epidermis
As strong and light as carbon fiber-epoxy composites are, the same can’t always be said of carbon-fiber reinforced 3D printer filaments. Of those that do improve over stock filament, the best performance comes from long, continuous strands, but the printers that can embed these are quite expensive. [MagicLAG], looking for a cheaper method, made something even stronger: prints reinforced with subsurface carbon-fiber cloth.
They tried a few other methods first, including pausing the print and manually embedding carbon fiber strands, ironing strands into the finished part, and ironing carbon fiber cloth into the bottom layer. For the main method, though, he printed the test part in three pieces: a core part, and two outer shell layers. Between the core and the shell is a small gap, into which carbon-fiber cloth can be epoxied. Under good conditions (not using quick-setting epoxy), this mostly preserves the outer surface and dimensional accuracy.
To test the various strengthening methods, [MagicLAG] printed hooks and tensioned them on a load cell until failure. None of the methods using single-stranded fiber showed any improvement; the fiber simply bent and let the surrounding plastic break. As a control for the epidermal cloth parts, they printed shells and cores and epoxied them together. These controls performed better than the standard parts, but not nearly as well as the carbon-fiber cloth composites. With only a few layers of cloth, these more than tripled the yield strength of the basic hook.
If you’d rather use a carbon-fiber filament, the type of plastic matters; carbon fiber makes PLA, at least, weaker. Regardless of form, some caution is called for whenever handling carbon fiber, since it seems to show some asbestos-like effects.

The Kount (BROCKHAMPTON, Logic) gives an exclusive studio tour
Join us for an exclusive studio tour from Toronto-based producer and multi-instrumentalist The Kount (BROCKHAMPTON, Logic).

Arturia releases Pigments Play, a FREE Pigments-powered synth
Arturia has released Pigments Play, a free software synthesizer powered by its flagship Pigments instrument. Pigments Play is not the full version of Pigments, but it gives you a free and approachable way to use some of its sound engine and preset content. It feels like Arturia’s Pigments equivalent of Analog Lab Play, which we [...]
View post: Arturia releases Pigments Play, a FREE Pigments-powered synth

Universal Audio’s EMT 140 & 250 plug-ins go native Two more of Universal Audio’s renowned UAD plug-ins have just gained new native versions that can be run without any Apollo or UAD Satellite hardware.

Steinberg is celebrating 30 years of VST and 25 years of HALion with a raft of massive discounts and free updates30 years ago, Steinberg changed the landscape of music production forever when it introduced VST, a groundbreaking format allowing the seamless integration of virtual instruments, effects and processing tools into any compatible host application.
The format quickly became an industry standard, with the majority of plugins today available in VST format, catering to producers working in most major DAWs including Ableton Live, FL Studio, Cubase.
But the 30th anniversary of VST isn’t the only thing Steinberg is celebrating; it’s also been 25 years since the German audio specialist launched its landmark HALion synthesizer and sampler platform.

READ MORE: Steinberg’s Absolute 7 is its most comprehensive virtual instrument collection ever

And in light of these two massive milestones which have very much shaped the way music production looks today, Steinberg has launched HALion 7.5, introducing a raft of new features and upgrades including MPE support, real-time Decompose, and Spectral Snapshot.

Free for existing users, the new version of HALion also features six different synthesis types, a high-performance sample engine, scripting and a huge range of effects, allowing producers to tap into huge sound design potential and developers to build complex instruments and sample libraries with unique interfaces within HALion.
Alongside the HALion 7.5 update, several classic VST instruments are making their return, with full VST3 compatibility, and a VST SDK update supporting more MIDI 2.0 functionality.
To celebrate, Steinberg is hosting a huge anniversary sale between 4 and 24 August, with discounts of up to 60% on HALion and a massive range of VST instruments, including the Backbone drum re-synthesizer, Etude grand piano library, and the Iconica Ensembles orchestral collection.
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And if that wasn’t enough, Steinberg has created the Steinberg Classics Collection, comprising some of the first Steinberg VST plugins upgraded to VST3, including the LM7 retro drum sample unit, CS-40, Neon synthesizers, VB-1 bass instrument and Karlette vintage tape delay.
The sale also sees 25% off several key iOS and Android mobile apps available via the App Store and Google Play.
Browse the full sale at Steinberg.
The post Steinberg is celebrating 30 years of VST and 25 years of HALion with a raft of massive discounts and free updates appeared first on MusicTech.

A quick guide to mastering your own musicAd feature with Mastering The Mix
What is Mastering?
Mastering is the final stage of polish for your music. While mixing is about balancing multiple parts, mastering focuses on refining the stereo file so that it translates across different systems and sounds competitive with other professional tracks. It can’t fix a broken mix, but it can add that final shine; correcting the tonal balance if it’s too dark or bright, crafting consistent and punchy dynamics, and setting the loudness for streaming and other formats. It can also be the last chance to check for clicks, overly hot peaks and mono-compatibility.
If you can afford it, it’s probably worth hiring a pro to master your bigger releases, as a fresh pair of ears and a treated room are worth their weight in gold. However, with a little practice you can still achieve high-quality results by mastering your own tracks. It’s also a great way to learn how to build better mixes.
We’re taking a look at some common mastering issues and how to fix them using a suite of Mastering The Mix plugins. The goal is to take some of the mystery out of the mastering workflow so that you can build a repeatable system that you can trust.
Note that all audio examples are volume matched so that you can more accurately hear the difference in processing without being fooled by volume differences. As such, some of the changes will sound fairly subtle, so we recommend listening on a full-range playback system or headphones.

How to prepare for mastering
There are a few things you need to do to prep your track for mastering. These include:

Leaving some headroom on the mix bus. Don’t worry about being too specific, as long as you’re not going near or over 0dB. -3 to -6dB should be fine.
Bypass any limiters or maximisers on the output. You want to leave your peaks and transients untouched so that they can be controlled at the mastering stage.
Bounce your file at the project’s native sample rate at a high bit-depth (most commonly 24-bit/44.1kHz) with no dithering.
Leave a little extra gap at the beginning and end of the bounce to make sure you catch the first transients and any tails in the outro.
In an ideal world, your mix will sound close to finished so mastering is just the final 5%.

The Mastering Chain
The order of plugins in a mastering chain is largely dictated by the workflow. You want to start by removing harsh resonances and mud, before moving on to crafting a mono safe stereo image. With these set, you can get to the most important part, which includes balancing tone, controlling punch and hitting the target loudness. Throughout the process you should be checking your master alongside one or more references, and finally you need to do quality control to double check for any issues.
With Mastering The Mix’s plugins as a reference, the chain could look something like this:
RESO (remove harsh resonances and mud)
↓
STEREOVAULT (craft a mono safe stereo image)
↓
FASTER MASTER (tone, punch and target loudness)
↓
REFERENCE 3 (check tone and level against reference)
↓
EXPOSE 2 (catch quality control issues before release)
Step 1 – Fixing Resonances (using RESO)
Mastering The Mix RESO in a DAW. Image: MusicTech
You could think of this stage as taking away the bits that you don’t want. Things like boxy build-ups (300-500Hz), harsh peaks (2-5K), or boomy bass notes.
A static EQ can be too destructive as it permanently dulls the track in that region, even when the problem isn’t there. Instead, try a dynamic EQ such as RESO, as it only pulls the frequency down when the problem appears and rings out.
To help pinpoint unwanted resonances, it’s beneficial to first calibrate your ears using a well-mixed reference. You can then loop a chorus or full section of your track and listen for any resonances that poke out. Add an instance of RESO, hold CNTRL and sweep the display to pinpoint them. Then you can click to add a node and pull it down until the ringing disappears.
You have to be careful, as overdoing it and pulling down too many resonances can start to eat away at the overall tone. There are probably only around 4 to 8 resonances that will be worth reducing. Also, it’s best to avoid cuts below around 250Hz as it can remove too much energy. If you can, it’s better to sort low-end issues in the mix instead.
Here we’ve notched out several resonances including a noticeable ring on the snare.

Step 2 – Setting the stereo image (using FASTER MASTER)
Mastering The Mix Faster Master in a DAW. Image: MusicTech
Stereo width can make a master sound bigger and more expensive, but it can also make it fall apart. Push too hard and it can sound weak and hollow. You also need to be careful to make sure your mix stands up in mono in case it’s played from a phone speaker or mono club system. If there are stereo phase issues in the mix then you may lose some information in mono, resulting in sounds or low end that reduce in volume. You want to make sure that you’re using a stereo tool that can control different areas of the spectrum in a phase-safe way. STEREOVAULT and the Stereo module in FASTER MASTER are good for this.
Low and low-mids (below 250Hz)
Reducing the width below 100Hz is recommended to keep the low-end phase safe and focused. That said, a small amount of mono-compatible width can sometimes work in the region from 100 – 250Hz to make the lows feel a little bigger.
High-mid and high-end
Widening the top end of a mix can be useful for opening up the cymbals, air, reverbs and pad-type sounds. It can make a track feel bigger without putting the low-end at risk.
Be sure to use references to check your width in each region against similar tracks, and always double-check for sounds disappearing in mono. In this example we’ve narrowed the low end as it was a bit too wide, and have significantly opened up the high mids and tops to help create more space.

Step 3 – Tone, dynamics, punch and loudness (using FASTER MASTER)
We now get to the meat of the mastering process where we can use EQ, compression, limiting and possibly saturation to shape the output. We’re looking to get an even tone that compares well with our references, alongside consistent dynamics, and a competitive overall volume.
We’re using FASTER MASTER for this stage as it has all of these processes in one. It also has a Smart Preset feature that analyses your track and presents 10 tailored preset options as a starting point. You can also load your own reference tracks as a source to match the EQ and stereo spread.
When working on EQ and compression whilst mastering, you should be making small and broad moves. If it feels like you need to do anything drastic, then it’s best to go back to the mix if you can. FASTER MASTER includes an 11-band EQ plus simple transient, compression and stereo modules. You choose a target LUFS volume in the limiter module, and then everything is automatically level matched as you make changes. In this way you’re always just listening to true tonal differences without being fooled by volume.
Don’t make adjustments just because you can. Make sure there’s a reason for it. Listen to the thickness of the mix and how the drums punch through. If they sound a little too prominent and there’s a lot of space in the mix, then a touch of compression or even transient reduction might make everything feel fuller. If it’s already sounding full, then you may not need to compress at all, and in fact a small amount of subtle transient boost could add life to the percussive elements.
For this master, we dipped some low-mid mud and lifted the upper-mids and tops, very slightly reduced the punch, added a touch of compression and drive, and set the LUFS to -7.

Step 4 – Comparing against a reference
Mastering The Mix Reference in a DAW. Image: MusicTech
Your ears can adjust when listening to the same track over a long period of time. It’s not uncommon to come back to a track the next day and suddenly hear a bunch of mistakes that you got used to. The best solution to avoid this is to listen to relevant, level-matched reference tracks before and during the mixing and mastering process.
A tool like REFERENCE 3 makes this much easier as it lets you build up a library of commercial tracks to recall in any session. It sets the matched loudness and auto-loops the loudest section so you can instantly start A/B-ing back and forth at the click of a button.
Try soloing different regions of your track and flicking back and forth with your reference to see how they stack up in terms of spectral content, punch and width. Don’t get caught up in trying to copy it perfectly, but use it more as a guide. This is where it can be useful to work with more than one reference.
If you’re still unsure where your mix/master needs work, then REFERENCE3 offers visual feedback on where to boost or cut your EQ, or to widen or narrow the stereo image to more closely match the reference.
Step 5 – Quality Control on the final file
After all the work that you’ve put in, the last thing you want is a file being sent for distribution with errors. Listen closely through the bounced file with headphones to check for anything you may have missed.
You can also use a standalone app like EXPOSE 2, which checks for the problems you can’t always hear. It can scan multiple tracks and flag issues like true-peak overshoots, mono compatibility issues, sudden loudness jumps between sections, or a low-end that’s heavier than you thought. If you find a specific problem, then you can go back in and pinpoint how it can be fixed with further processing or editing.
With a little patience and ear training, it’s possible to get great results doing in-the-box mastering at home. These plugins won’t master your track for you, but they can help guide you in the right direction and take some of the guesswork out of the equation. If you can get used to following a set routine to iron out problems and balance your audio, then it makes it easier to trust your decisions each time.
The All Plugins Bundle includes the plugins used here: RESO, FASTER MASTER, REFERENCE 3, and EXPOSE 2 (plus STEREOVAULT, LEVELS, FUSER, BASSROOM, MIXROOM, LIMITER & ANIMATE) and is available for £259
The post A quick guide to mastering your own music appeared first on MusicTech.

Fender’s first-ever performance pad controllers have arrived – here’s everything you need to know about Fender MotionFender has forayed further into the world of pro audio, officially unveiling its first-ever performance pad controllers.
Meet Fender Motion, available in 16- or 32-pad configurations, and built with improvisation and sound exploration across all genres in mind. Motion pairs natively with the Fender Studio Pro DAW – formerly PreSonus Studio One until January 2026 – so users can write, edit and perform without leaving the instrument.

READ MORE: I swapped Ableton Live for Fender’s Studio Pro 8.1 DAW – but is it compelling enough for the change to stick?

Motion offers tools for songwriting, beatmaking, finger drumming, melodic sequencing, mixing, live performance and studio production. The unit is built with Context-Aware pads from Italian company FATAR (best known for its keybeds) marking FATAR’s first-ever pad design.
As for its key features, it includes a built-in chord mode offering playable custom-voiced progressions and assignable scales and RGB touch encoders and touch strips for control over virtual instruments, effect and mixer functions in Fender Studio Pro.
Motion is also compatible with other major DAWs, and you can connect it to external synths, drum machines and hybrid setups for a computer-free or mixed workflow.
Take a look at the videos below to artist Yaahn Hunter Jr. giving Motion a go:

“The Motion controllers feel like a direct line between what I’m thinking and Fender Studio Pro,” says Yaahn Hunter Jr. “I prefer pads when programming drums and triggering samples, but Chord Mode surprised me with how much faster it makes writing on the fly, and tweaking plugin parameters live with the knobs means I can express myself artistically without having to draw in automation lines in Fender Studio Pro.”
Max Gutnik, Chief Product Officer at Fender Electronics, adds: “Since we debuted Motion at NAMM, the anticipation has been off the charts. It confirmed what we already knew: players don’t want a controller that handles one corner of their workflow, they want one built for all of it.
“Motion gets the same obsessive attention to detail we put into everything we build. Pair it with Fender Studio Pro and your sessions, your sounds, your tones and your rig all move together, from the first take at home to the last song of the night.”
Fender Motion 16 is priced at £239, while Fender Motion 32 comes in at £299. Find out more at Fender Studio.
The post Fender’s first-ever performance pad controllers have arrived – here’s everything you need to know about Fender Motion appeared first on MusicTech.