MLC can file amended complaint in ‘bundling’ lawsuit against Spotify, court saysThe Mechanical Licensing Collective secures crucial procedural victory in legal battle with Spotify
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Crowdfunding for Independent Musicians: What You Need To KnowIt was not that long ago that crowdfunding for independent musicians has a bad wrap thanks to some spectacular flameouts of platforms serving the sector. But now crowdfunding for musicians is back in vogue and it couldn't happen at a better time.
The post Crowdfunding for Independent Musicians: What You Need To Know appeared first on Hypebot.

MIDI Innovation Awards 2025: Winners The MIDI Association have revealed the full list of winners for this year’s MIDI Innovation Awards following a live stream announcement hosted in collaboration with Andrew Huang. 

IK Multimedia announces new “ethically sourced” AI voice modelling plugin, ReSingJoining the likes of DJ Fresh’s Voice-Swap, IK Multimedia has thrown its hat into the AI-powered voice modelling ring with ReSing, a new plugin which captures the “timbre, tone and expression of real artists, sourced ethically”.
Powered by AI, ReSing enables producers and vocalists to take scratch vocals – unpolished takes, in other words – and replace them with “expressive, professional-quality voices”.

READ MORE: This AI guitar pedal lets you “sound like any song” with just one click – but does it risk taking the soul out of music-making?

While ReSing includes 25 voices and 25 instrument models at launch, IK Multimedia says this library will expand, plus users have the ability to create their own voice models, too.
Additionally, ReSing is not cloud-based and instead runs directly on your desktop, “removing the need for data transmission and queues”. So in other words, faster results.

Aside from the ability to turn rough vocal takes into “professional-quality” performances, ReSing also enables producers to adjust a vocal’s energy, tone and style, and even blend voices.
Another cool use case is producers can sing a bassline, riff or hook, and turn it into a real instrument via ReSing’s onboard library of instruments.
IK Multimedia says ReSing is the “first platform of its kind” to allow users to model their own voice and lease it out for profit.
ReSing operates both as a standalone application or as a plugin with a DAW, and comes with a perpetual licence, so no subscription is necessary.
Ethics is often a key concern among AI sceptics, so IK Multimedia confirms all artists whose vocals have been used in ReSing have signed “clear and transparent agreements that ensure their contributions are acknowledged and protected”.
Pricing and availability
Scheduled for launch in October 2025, ReSing is available now for pre-order at a reduced price, at three different tiers:

ReSing Free – two voices, two instruments, totally free, obviously
ReSing – $/€89.99 (reg. $129.99) – 10 voices, 10 instruments
ReSing MAX – $/€ 149.99 (reg. $199.99) – 25 voices, 25 instruments

For more information, head to IK Multimedia.
The post IK Multimedia announces new “ethically sourced” AI voice modelling plugin, ReSing appeared first on MusicTech.

This AI guitar pedal lets you “sound like any song” with just one click – but does it risk taking the soul out of music-making?Artificial intelligence has been reshaping music production for years, from automated mixing to generative composition – and now, it’s finally hitting the pedalboard.
Chicago-based startup Groundhog Audio has unveiled the OnePedal, a guitar pedal powered by AI that can match the tone of virtually any song in seconds. In theory at least.

READ MORE: “There’s not a millisecond in any of my records where I don’t know exactly what it’s doing and why it’s there”: Andrew Watt on his “intense” approach to music production

The process is deceptively simple. Users select a track from the app’s library, which features over 100,000 songs, or upload their own. The system then isolates the guitar track, analyses its tone, and generates an effects chain that gets you as close as possible to the original recording. The AI model is trained to understand music styles, guitar gear, and production techniques, enabling it to predict the ideal settings and signal chains for each track.
Those settings can be saved directly to the pedal for offline use, making the OnePedal equally effective for bedroom practice, studio sessions, or live performances.
Navigating between songs and tones is just as effortless: a large central knob lets users scroll quickly through tracks, while a dedicated tone switch allows seamless switching between different sounds mid-performance. A 4-inch screen provides intuitive access to presets and settings, keeping the focus on playing rather than menu diving.
As Groundhog Audio founder Max Engle puts it, the OnePedal is about reclaiming time for creativity: “Guitarists shouldn’t have to spend hours dialing in knobs or scrolling forums to get the right sound,” he says. “We want to give musicians time back to focus on what they really love – playing.”
Beautiful-sounding as that argument may be, music-making purists might argue that handing over so much of the technical process to a machine risks stripping away the soul of music-making. For many musicians, the joys of experimentation, accidental discovery, and shaping a tone by ear are part of what gives music its character.
Still, tools like OnePedal are just part of a growing wave of AI-powered music tech. Audio sample library WAVS, for instance, recently launched its AI Sample Finder, letting users drag any audio file from their DAW timeline into the plugin to discover similar sounds. More than anything, these innovations illustrate how AI is increasingly taking over the technical heavy lifting, leaving musicians to weigh the balance between efficiency and creative expression.
The OnePedal launches on Kickstarter on 30 September for $399 (retail price $549), with limited-edition “Founding User” perks and lifetime software updates available to early backers.
Learn more at Groundhog Audio.
The post This AI guitar pedal lets you “sound like any song” with just one click – but does it risk taking the soul out of music-making? appeared first on MusicTech.

Is AlphaTheta’s CDJ-3000X really such a big deal for the DJ industry?The launch of a new CDJ from Pioneer DJ (now AlphaTheta) has always caused a stir in the DJ community. The price tag, the headline features, and, perhaps more importantly, the perceived missing features, will dominate forums and comment sections for months — and we’re already starting to see it happening with AlphaTheta’s latest.

READ MORE: AlphaTheta CDJ-3000X review: Bigger, sharper, smoother, and cloud-ready — but you’ll need very deep pockets

But let’s keep some perspective: the CDJ-3000X is an incremental update from the CDJ-3000. The ‘X’ bolted on the end makes that obvious, and we’ll probably be waiting another five years at least before a true leap in the form of a CDJ-4000, or some device deserving of a clean break in name and design. The bigger question is: “Does that really matter to most DJs anymore?” I’d argue that it doesn’t — but it might matter for DJs in the next 5 to 10 years.
The very idea of what a flagship DJ product represents has changed, along with the branding itself. AlphaTheta, the corporate parent that initially sat quietly behind Pioneer DJ, has stepped into the front of house. It claims Pioneer DJ isn’t going anywhere, which seems unlikely, and the rollout of AlphaTheta as the premium brand has felt…awkward. The 3000X isn’t proudly stamped with ‘AlphaTheta’ on its crowd-facing screen or rear panel. Instead, it carries only a minimalist icon — hardly the bold booth takeover we might have expected.
Considering how much of Pioneer DJ’s dominance was cemented through the sheer visibility of its logo in booth photos, livestreams, and social content, the absence of a strong brand identity on the new flagship feels like a strange misstep at a time when optics can matter as much as engineering. It does, however, show a bold confidence in the new product.
Image: Press
As for the deck itself, the 3000X is less a revolution and more a carefully planned collage. Think of it as AlphaTheta curating the most well-loved ideas from across its ecosystem and weaving them into a single premium package, housed in a familiar chassis that retains the muscle memory and instinct built from a long legacy of CDJ design.
Yes, there are new ideas.
Streaming has taken a step forward with onboard WiFi. Now, you can connect directly to Beatport, Spotify, Tidal, or your own cloud library without plugging in USB media as before. The NFC/QR log-in system is clever too: tap your phone and your entire rekordbox profile appears like magic, with streaming services soon to be logged in alongside it. Suddenly, DJing without a USB, media, or laptop is a reality. But is streaming ready to be the centrepiece of a professional set? Not yet. At this stage, it still feels like an auxiliary option, something you lean on in a pinch, or to expand your set, or take track requests with, rather than the backbone of your performance. Although you can cache a decent amount of cloud and streaming tracks on the device, you are still at the whim of a stable and fast internet connection. I suspect that will not stop someone at your future gig from asking if they can “log into your decks and play a few songs,” though…
Don’t get me wrong, I rated the CDJ-3000X very highly in my review. For what it’s designed to do, there is no better product in the market right now. The problem is that this end of the market is shrinking in relevance to the wider DJ culture.
Image: Press
I’ve been DJing for over three decades, and I have seen the format shifts up close: vinyl to CD, CD to USB, USB to laptop, laptop to controller. Each transition was messy, full of overlap and resistance. But since the 2009 release of the CDJ-2000, the chaos steadied, with DJs falling into mostly USB stick or laptop camps. It feels similar to how mobile phones hit a ceiling of innovation several years ago, and users realised most phones do pretty much everything they need, and yearly upgrades slowed.
In the five years since the CDJ-3000 launched, I can count on one hand the times I have actually encountered one in a booth. Each time, it was at a larger event where a hire company had supplied the kit. The days when every club, bar, and local venue felt compelled to invest in the latest flagship players are long gone. Many venues don’t own permanent DJ setups at all anymore, partly because the new-gen DJs arrive with their own controllers and gear they have rehearsed on; gear that feels like an extension of themselves.
If DJs are swapping out the installed kit for their own, and unless venues are booking high-end DJs with tech riders wanting the CDJ-3000X, why would they keep upgrading expensive CDJs or replace broken kit?
This is the quagmire AlphaTheta faces: satisfy top-tier professionals who demand familiar, robust, reliable gear for festival stages and installs, but also keep entry-level and mid-tier devices exciting, new, and familiar enough to funnel DJs into the rekordbox ecosystem for subscriptions and cloud services. This is where the long game is being played. Consider that pro DJs who were using Pioneer DJ regularly at gigs could avoid ever spending money with the company. Now they are monthly rekordbox subscribers, with AlphaTheta entering into the DJ services world to protect DJs’ music and back up their cue points, grids, and settings in the cloud.
Image: Press
The side effect of this product strategy is glacial progress in how features are adopted. It takes about a decade for meaningful innovation in DJ tech to settle in. It was about 10 years between laptops creeping into booths and Serato or Traktor becoming normalised; about 10 years between CDJs appearing in clubs and the 1210s finally fading as the default. Streaming could follow the same arc, but right now, it is still finding its place.
And this is where things get really interesting. As streaming grows, the economics of exclusivity will reshape the industry. Expect to see “streaming-only” releases, label-brokered exclusives tied to specific services, and a fragmentation of DJ libraries not unlike what has already happened with Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and the rest in the video world. The real disruption will not be a single device like the 3000X, but the moment when universal library access becomes viable across brands and platforms.
Imagine logging into a booth anywhere, whether it is AlphaTheta, Denon, or even some new competitor, and instantly having your cloud-based collection ready to go. That would take us full circle, back to a more gear-agnostic era where DJs really could just show up with their music.

And isn’t that supposed to be the point? Strip away the brand loyalty, the marketing, the endless debates about jog wheel tension and screen brightness, and the music itself should still be at the heart of DJing.
The CDJ-3000X is a brilliant piece of kit, but its true legacy might be less about what it does in the booth today and more about how it points us toward a future where the hardware matters less than the music that flows through it.
The post Is AlphaTheta’s CDJ-3000X really such a big deal for the DJ industry? appeared first on MusicTech.

IK Multimedia introduce ReSing IK Multimedia's new voice-modelling software claims to deliver natural-sounding vocal performances that they say are indistinguishable from those captured during live recording sessions.

HSBC claims a quantum breakthrough in algorithmic tradingResearchers at banking giant HSBC said they successfully applied quantum computers to algorithmic bond trading in an experimental test.

Viral call-recording app Neon goes dark after exposing users’ phone numbers, call recordings, and transcriptsCall recording app Neon was one of the top-ranked iPhone apps, but was pulled offline after a security bug allowed any logged-in user to access the call recordings and transcripts of any other user.

Universal and Sony Music partner with new platform to detect AI music copyright theft using ‘groundbreaking neural fingerprinting’ technologyCompanies to use "groundbreaking neural fingerprinting technologies" to detect copyright infringement in AI-generated music.
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AudioKit Pro VIRAL SYNTH T2xVIRAL SYNTH T2x is a virtual analog synth inspired by the sounds of the Virus TI2* synth series. Works on your iPhone, iPad, and iPad/iPhone AUv3 plug-in for DAWs like Logic for iPad. Includes over 500+ Inspiring and Original Presets. Not imitation, it's Innovation. Features: 64 Voice Virtual Analog, 64 independent filters (1 for each voice). Advanced Synth Engine (including PWM, Osc Morph and 48+ waveform shapes). Trance Gate with multiple destinations. Super Fun Vintage Arp & Step sequencer. Quickly make 4-voice Unison Saws, Super FM pitch dives, and more with one tap. FX: Glorious Reverb, Analog Tape Delay, Distortion, Flanger, Chorus, Crush, and more. 3 LFOs with Polarity, over 70+ possible destinations, almost everything can be modulated! LFOs can even modify other LFOs. Over 6 panels of controls to shape your sound. Use with MIDI keyboard or iOS MIDI host. RECORDING – easily record your melodies, and sounds and export. No other apps needed. Includes full lifetime license for both iPhone & iPad. Download and Learn more: VIRAL SYNTH * This app has no affiliation or endorsement from Access Corporation. It is not a clone of the Virus TI2, or any other synthesizer. Nor does it use any Virus ROM or direct waveforms. The wavetables are legally different, and the names have been changed. While we were inspired by the sound and legacy of these iconic instruments, this is an original creation, built from the ground up. All product names, trademarks, and images mentioned are the property of their respective owners and are used only to describe the inspiration behind this app and for purposes of reference. Their inclusion does not imply any association, affiliation, or endorsement. Read More

Tube Furnace is the Real HotnessWe aren’t sure what [theglassman] is working on, but based on his recent projects, we think it is probably something interesting. He’s been decapping ICs, growing oxide on silicon substrates, and has built a tube furnace capable of reaching 1200 °C.
What would you do with something that can melt cast iron? We aren’t sure, but maybe you’ll tell us in the comments. We do have a fair idea of what [theglassman] is doing, though.
The core of the oven is a quartz tube. Insulation is via refractory cement and alumina ceramic wool. The heating itself is classic Nichrome wire and a tiny thermocouple. The real key, though, is to the proper controller. [theglassman] suggests a ramp/soak controller. These allow you to program sequences that heat up and then stop, which, if done properly, can prevent your fragile quartz tube from cracking.

Naturally, you need the tube furnace to grow oxides on silicon. It is less clear why he’s decapping ICs. We were nervous about his process of boiling down sulfuric acid (fuming nitrate works better, anyway, if you just want to remove the epoxy).  If you want to remove everything like he does, sodium hydroxide will also work well.
Obviously, we need to keep an eye on [theglassman]. We are curious what he’s working towards. Maybe making a custom transistor? Or, dare we hope, a homemade IC?

Dive Behind the Boards with Sounwave at AES Show 2025Every once in a while, the Audio Engineering Society lines up a session that feels less like a panel and more like a masterclass. That’s what’s happening at AES Show 2025 in Long Beach, where GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Sounwave will sit down with legendary mixer Manny Marroquin for a conversation on craft, collaboration, and the delicate art of building sound. The talk, titled “Inside the Creative Process with Sounwave: Shaping Sound and Artist Identity,” lands on Thursday, October 23.For the uninitiated, Sounwave (born Mark Anthony Spears) isn’t just another name in the credits—he’s the creative engine behind some of the most era-defining records of the last decade. From Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer-winning DAMN. to SZA’s chart-dominating collaborations, from Taylor Swift’s Midnights to Beyoncé’s Renaissance, his fingerprints are everywhere. Most recently, he helped produce Lamar’s GNX, the album that spawned the cultural earthquake of Not Like Us—a track that didn’t just top charts, it set the entire internet ablaze.Beyond the studio, Sounwave’s resume stretches into moments that have defined pop culture at large: Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show, the Grand National Tour, even consumer tech with his retro-futurist Songbook MAX speakers designed with Tivoli Audio. And yet, for all the accolades (seven GRAMMYs and counting), the through-line is his ability to translate an artist’s vision into sound that feels inevitable: music that sticks not because it’s engineered to, but because it resonates.AES president Gary Gottlieb put it best: “This session is about more than production techniques; it’s about understanding the art of building trust with artists and shaping music that defines a generation.” With Marroquin steering the conversation—a man whose mixing credits touch nearly 250 million albums—expect less industry jargon and more raw perspective on how great records are actually made.If you’re heading to Long Beach this October, don’t think of this as just another conference slot. Think of it as a chance to hear how some of the most important music of the last twenty years came to life, straight from the source. Until then, revisit the proof:

For more information about the AES Show 2025 program and registration, visit aesshow.com.The post Dive Behind the Boards with Sounwave at AES Show 2025 first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Loewe’s first over-ear headphones are here – and they’re backed by David Guetta and Kylian MbappéAfter unveiling a pair of uber-high-end diamond-encrusted headphones – worth over $135,000 – last month, German electronics brand Loewe has launched its first ever pair of production-run over-ear headphones, Loewe leo.
The headphones combine “state-of-the-art technology, superb sound quality, and timeless design”, and have two very well-known faces proudly sporting them for the launch: footballer Kylian Mbappé – who’s been global Loewe ambassador since 2024 – and world renowned DJ David Guetta.

READ MORE: Nothing Headphone (1) review: Not bad, but definitely quirky

The Loewe leo headphones integrate a “top-quality” DAC, precision 50mm drivers, and full high-resolution codec support. The driver features a diaphragm crafted from lightweight OCE (Olefin Composite Elastomer), which according to Loewe, has a fast response and natural damping, and “delivers clear vocals, detailed highs, and smooth, controlled bass.”
Further key features include adaptive noise cancellation, transparency mode, and support for Hi-Res Audio Wireless, Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, and Bluetooth LE Audio. Users can also access Loewe’s exclusive Mimi Sound Personalisation through the Loewe app, which tailors playback to your unique hearing profile.
Leo also includes voice assistant support, real-time AI translation, multipoint connectivity, and offers 65 hours of battery life. The headphones also have a fold-flat design and are crafted with sustainability in mind; most of the components of leo are repairable, replaceable, and upgradeable.

“With Loewe leo, we’ve created more than just headphones,” comments Aslan Khabliev, CEO & Owner at Loewe Technology. “David and Kylian embody the spirit of Travel Beyond Sound: moving through the world while being transported by the immersive, precise sound of Loewe. Their stories show how music and performance merge into a single, powerful journey.”
“Music helps me stay focused and connected to myself. With Loewe leo, I can take that feeling with me everywhere – it’s like carrying my own universe of sound,” says Mbappé.
“For me, sound is everything,” adds Guetta. “It’s how I express myself and connect with others. Loewe leo delivers sound so pure and immersive that it feels like coming home, no matter where I am.”
Elsewhere Loewe has partnered with luxury jeweller Jacob & Co. to create the leo – bespoke edition. Limited to just 10 pieces worldwide, each handcrafted headset is set with around 12 carats of genuine gemstones, and is priced in the six-figure range.
The standard leo headphones are available in midnight blue and moonlight beige. They are priced at €1,299, and are available now. Find out more via Loewe.
The post Loewe’s first over-ear headphones are here – and they’re backed by David Guetta and Kylian Mbappé appeared first on MusicTech.

Focusrite launch Scarlett 2i2 Anniversary Edition The Scarlett 2i2 Anniversary Edition retains the same features as the standard version, but sports a stylish blue finish inspired by Focusrite's renowned ISA range.