5 Surprising and Sustainable Earth Friendly Music VenuesCelebrate Earth Month with Sofar’s look at sustainable earth friendly music venues ranging from local backyards and a hydroponic farm in Brooklyn to an ancient temple in Japan. Learn how unforgettable performances in eco-conscious spaces are redefining what it means to enjoy live music without harming Mother Earth.
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Venus Theory releases forms:piano, a FREE emotive piano library for Decent Sampler
Developer Venus Theory has released forms:piano, a free emotive piano library for the Decent Sampler. Decent Sampler is a treasure trove of sometimes weird and usually wonderful free libraries (there are paid libraries, too, but plenty of freebies to keep you busy). If you haven’t tried Decent Sampler yet, check it out; it’s free to [...]
View post: Venus Theory releases forms:piano, a FREE emotive piano library for Decent Sampler

Musio gains Mic Position Mixes feature Musio have announced the launch of an update which they say brings their self-titled application and plug-in one step closer to being the ultimate tool for composers in search of the perfect sound.

Venus Theory’s new free piano library is sampled from Benn Jordan’s unique upright YamahaMusician and sound designer Venus Theory has launched yet another free goodie, and this time it’s a piano library sampled right from his good friend Benn Jordan’s own home studio piano.
Jordan’s piano is described as a “unique” upright Yamaha, which also happens to have a MIDI input. The pair had been meaning to sample it for quite some time, and finally, it’s available free of charge for the Decent Sampler plugin (handily, this is also free).

READ MORE: “You have eight months to soundtrack an AAA game in a style you’ve never done before”: Venus Theory on his ‘trial by fire’ soundtrack for Avowed

Venus Theory, also known as Cameron, launches free tools thanks to support from his patrons, and has a mission to make inspiring and easy to use music tools that are completely free of charge with “No strings attached. No stupid subscription bullshit. Just sound.”
The new piano tool marks the start of another new free series from the creative, which will all fall under the name of “forms”. The series introduces a new interface, but currently there are no other plans or ideas in motion for what might come next.
In a newsletter speaking of the launch, Venus Theory recalls of their joint project, “I packed a few extra goodies with me and we set up his Yamaha Upright with my piano sampling template and got to work drinking some bourbon while the piano played itself. Turns out a piano with MIDI Inputs makes for a very easy sampling session comparatively.
“This session was done as a ‘test’ to see if we could get the sound we wanted from the piano and experiment a bit with the recordings to come up with other ideas and we had no real intention of ever releasing this set of sounds since it was just an experiment more than a proper session. However, once we put them together in a test instrument and played around with it we liked the result too much to not share it,” he says.

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Forms:piano is available to download for free now. Check out more from Venus Theory and Benn Jordan.
The post Venus Theory’s new free piano library is sampled from Benn Jordan’s unique upright Yamaha appeared first on MusicTech.

“We need more listeners and dancers and less DJs”: JKriv says DJs should have “more anonymity” when performingArtist and label owner JKriv feels we should focus less on DJs during live sets, and instead shift our priorities to the energy in the room and the people dancing.
JKriv, who co-founded the Razor-N-Tape label with Aaron Dae, has opened up on the different “hats” he wears as both a music maker and label co-owner, sharing his opinions on matters such as streaming and the current state of live music in a new interview with MusicTech.

READ MORE: “Your favourite producer’s sounds are made here”: Vaughn Oliver shows off his synths and studio

Speaking as an artist when asked what he hopes to see more of in clubs and venues, JKriv responds, “I’d love to see a move back towards dark rooms and more anonymity for the DJ. My least favourite way to play is up on a stage where the focus is directed towards you and less about the energy in the room and people interacting and dancing. I think festival culture has driven that – it’s now about the personality of the DJ and the ‘performance’ they’re giving.
“We need more listeners and dancers and less DJs, too,” he adds. “Back in the day, music discovery was a different process. You had to spend money on it. You’d have to go and dig for records and learn the craft of doing it. And now, with digital DJing and digital record collecting, it’s much easier. That’s good, obviously, but also the market is just flooded.”

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Further into the interview, he also gives his take on streaming among ongoing criticism of the low payouts the system provides to artists. “[With vinyl], you sell a white label record, you press 1,000 copies, you sell it, and when that’s done, you’re probably not going to repress it. So that’s all the money the artist will make from it, right? Streaming is obviously pennies, but the music will sit there forever. And it grows – you start to see over time how that income stream can build for you and for the artists. So that’s a positive thing,” he says.
“I would love to see a platform like Bandcamp build out some features that could compete with a streaming service like Spotify. Most people would love to know that the money they’re paying for music is supporting artists a bit more. I think if you gave people the opportunity to do that, they would go for it, and it would be a real success.”
JKriv’s new EP, Intuition, is out now. You can check it out, plus more releases, via Razor-N-Tape.
The post “We need more listeners and dancers and less DJs”: JKriv says DJs should have “more anonymity” when performing appeared first on MusicTech.

Musio’s new highly-requested mic position feature is made with real microphone recordings from studios across the worldVirtual instrument platform Musio has officially launched a new mic positioning feature, created using real recordings of physical microphones in authentic studios across the globe.
The new addition, called Mic Position Mixes, is described as highly-requested, and utilises real-life mic recordings captured with “state-of-the-art setups” such as rare (and expensive) Neumann M50 tube mics in a Decca Tree array. The recordings were mixed by top engineers like Dennis Sands, who has worked on countless films, has been nominated for four Academy Awards, and has mic positioning down to a tee.

READ MORE: Native Instruments has partnered with DJ Mustard on some ultra-limited gear – here’s how you can enter to win it

The Musio team also travelled across the globe to capture culturally unique sounds in locations such as Reykjavík, Iceland, and Cape Town, South Africa to ensure that every mic position “reflects the depth, space, and authenticity of its original recording environment”. Users can also now explore a new built in mixer to control levels and compare their different sound sources.
Chris Hayzel, who stepped into the CEO role at Musio in late 2024, says of the launch: “It’s always exciting to release something that we know our users really want. And they’ve been very clear: They want more control over their sounds. The nice thing is the recordings were already designed for this – we just had to bring it all together.”
You can find out more in the video below:

Musio became the new home of Cinesamples back in late 2023. The integration aimed to decrease “the clutter and friction of traditional, complex sampler plugins” for composers and producers, and welcomed its vast range of sample libraries for the world of movie, TV, and video games to the platform.
For further information or to purchase a licence, head over to Musio.
The post Musio’s new highly-requested mic position feature is made with real microphone recordings from studios across the world appeared first on MusicTech.

Mensla releases Stereo Tool, a FREE two-in-one stereo effect plugin
The newly released Stereo Tool from Mensla combines a customizable vectorscope and stereo shaper in a single free plugin. Mensla (Angelo Fazari) is the developer behind previous freebies, including FMD (FM distortion) and MS-3 (waveshaper synth). Stereo Tool is available in AU and VST formats for macOS, Windows, and Linux. I’m on macOS Sonoma 14.5, [...]
View post: Mensla releases Stereo Tool, a FREE two-in-one stereo effect plugin

Tomorrow: Join Ali Ghodsi and Dario Amodei for a fireside chatJoin this free virtual event, featuring Ali Ghodsi, the trailblazing co-founder and CEO of Databricks, alongside Dario Amodei, the pioneering co-founder and CEO of Anthropic. Uncover how their revolutionary collaboration is poised to fast-track the advancement of domain-specific AI agents. Not only will you experience an engaging exchange between the visionary leaders of two AI […]

Women in Music Presents Shop TalkWomen in Music LA is a chapter of WIM, estabished in 2017, that is "dedicated to fostering equality in the music industry through the support and advancement of women. Providing knowledge, strategy & solutions to our members and the greater community is our driving purpose."Women In Music​ Los Angeles' Shop Talk returns to The Village Studios​ on April 26th, 2025 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the fourth edition of this popular annual workshop, diving even deeper into the heart of studio recording. "Shop Talk 104 is designed specifically for women creators and those working alongside them, offering a welcoming and inclusive space to explore the fundamentals of audio production," they say. "Whether you're an artist or on the support team, with questions about working in a commercial studio or recording tracks at home, Shop Talk 104 is your chance to learn directly from the women engineers and producers at The Village Studios, who will explain essential recording terminology and demystify the gear and workflow of the control room.""Don't miss this unique opportunity to visit this world-renowned studio where legendary artists like The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, Dr. Dre, Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, Bob Dylan, Shakira, Janet Jackson, and Gwen Stefani have recorded — and get your questions answered without fear or judgement," they continue. "If you've ever felt like you should know more about the technical side of music but didn't know where to start, this event is for YOU!"Register here.The post Women in Music Presents Shop Talk first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Trekulator: A Reproduction of the 1977 Star Trek Themed CalculatorA recent project over on Hackaday.io from [Michael Gardi] is Trekulator – Where No Maker Has Gone Before.
This is a fun build and [Michael] has done a very good job of emulating the original device. [Michael] used the Hackaday.io logging feature to log his progress. Starting in September 2024 he modeled the case, got his original hardware working, got the 7-segment display working, added support for sound, got the keypad working and mounted it, added the TFT display and mounted it, wired up the breadboard implementation, designed and implemented the PCBs, added some finishing touches, installed improved keys, and added a power socket back in March.

It is perhaps funny that where the original device used four red LEDs, [Michael] has used an entire TFT display. This would have been pure decadence by the standards of 1977. The software for the ESP32 microcontroller was fairly involved. It had to support audio, graphics, animations, keyboard input, the 7-segment display, and the actual calculations.
The calculations are done using double-precision floating-point values and eight positions on the display so this code will do weird things in some edge cases. For instance if you ask it to sum two eight digit numbers as 90,000,000 and 80,000,000, which would ordinarily sum to the nine digit value 170,000,000, the display will show you a different value instead, such as maybe 17,000,000 or 70,000,000. Why don’t you put one together and let us know what it actually does! Also, can you find any floating-point precision bugs?
This was a really fun project, thanks to [Michael] for writing it up and letting us know via the tips line!

Spotify expands concert discovery offerings with new Stager integrationFounded in 2012, Stager’s platform allows event organizers to offer ticketing services, planning software, and marketing tools
Source

Disc Maker CEO responds to Spotify in ‘1000 Streams’ debateTony van Veen, the former CD Baby and current Disc Maker CEO responds to Spotify and their statement explaining the decision to stop paying royalties on tracks with under 1000 plays.
The post Disc Maker CEO responds to Spotify in ‘1000 Streams’ debate appeared first on Hypebot.

Diego Ortega releases FREE Vocal Rider Plugin for Automated Vocal Levelling
Recently, Diego Ortega released Vocal Rider, a free plugin made to help you achieve consistent vocal levels via automation while avoiding coloration caused by compression.  The plugin is available in both 64-bit and 32-bit versions for macOS and Windows, in VST3 and standalone formats.   Ortega has made Vocal Rider available via a ‘name a fair [...]
View post: Diego Ortega releases FREE Vocal Rider Plugin for Automated Vocal Levelling

Live Music Industry News Roundup: Caps, Costs Awards & MoreThis week's roundup of live music industry news covers topics from ticket resale caps, the financial realities for touring artists, to the recent executive order on ticketing, and more...
The post Live Music Industry News Roundup: Caps, Costs Awards & More appeared first on Hypebot.

Waves Audio releases Free Plugin Pack for Windows and macOS
Waves Audio has launched the Free Plugin Pack, bundling nine free plugins and virtual instruments into one convenient download. Waves Audio Free Plugin Pack is available for Windows and macOS users. While most of the included plugins were available for free on previous occasions, this is the first time they’ve been packaged together. And even [...]
View post: Waves Audio releases Free Plugin Pack for Windows and macOS