Shattered Glass Audio releases Phoenix LT, a FREE tube preamp plugin for desktop and iOS
Shattered Glass Audio has released Phoenix LT, a free analog tube preamp simulation plugin for desktop platforms and iOS. This release caught my attention because Phoenix LT is essentially the successor to the discontinued SGA1566 preamp. In my opinion, SGA1566 was one of the best free tube preamp plugins on the market for years, and [...]
View post: Shattered Glass Audio releases Phoenix LT, a FREE tube preamp plugin for desktop and iOS

Fairlight 50th Anniversary December 2025 marks the 50th Anniversary of the founding of Fairlight in 1975 by Kim Ryrie and Peter Vogel, who along with a number of original staff members, have gathered in Sydney to celebrate this milestone year for Australia's pioneering music technology company. 

Vinyl Minded, Gift Guide Edition Vol. 3The Monkees

Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd (Rhino/Warner)

Part of the wonderful Rhino High Fidelity, arguably the most adventurous album by The Monkees has been given the heavyweight vinyl treatment, which offers us a chance to revisit an underrated gem.

The 180-gram release has been cut from the original analog tapes at Cohearent Audio. "Released at the height of Monkeemania in November 1967, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. was The Monkees’ fourth consecutive #1 album—and their third release that year alone," a statement reads. "It spent five weeks atop the Billboard 200 and earned double platinum certification. Building on the creative control they established with Headquarters, the album marked a turning point in the band’s sound, incorporating sharper lyrics, electric banjo, and one of the earliest uses of a Moog synthesizer on a rock album. Recorded amid a grueling tour schedule and across multiple studios, the sessions captured both the group’s growing studio ambitions and the fragmented pace of their late-’60s reality. The result was one of their most adventurous—and enduring—records."

It's tough to ignore the Beatles comparisons on this one, particular the "Salesman"/"Taxman" of it all. But it's also undeniable that, when they stretched out and allowed the creativity to flow, as they did here, the Monkees were a real force. The whole "they were just actors for a TV show" thing should be put to bed.

The Cranberries

MTV Unplugged (Island/Universal)

It was 1995--30 years ago--that The Cranberries recorded one of the great MTV Unplugged sets, and it's available for the first time here in full, on newly mastered vinyl.

It's bittersweet because, boy, do we still miss singer Dolores O'Riordan. But having the opportunity to hear her in a stripped down environment, crooning her band's better known songs--that's a real treat.

"Linger," "Empty," "Zombie" -- these are glorious versions given new life in a space setting. Nirvana pulled the same trick with an MTV Unplugged, and here we are entering 2026, wishing Delores and Kurt were still with us.

"If you saw the episode, it's time to relive the majesty of their hypnotic performance that chilly February night in 1995," reads a statement. "If you hadn't seen it, be prepared to be awed."

Eternity's Children

Eternity's Children (High Moon)

Timeless (High Moon)

In the case of both of these albums from "sunshine pop legends" Eternity's Children, this is the first time they've been released on vinyl since the late '60s. We can thank the fine people at High Moon Records for that--the label has been helping us rediscover many a lost gem of late. Both of these fall into that category.

“Possessed of two exceptional lead vocalists and a self-penned hit single, immensely talented, college-educated, and great-looking to boot, they toured with some of the biggest names in music, and worked with the finest producers and musicians,” writes Steve Stanley, who produced these for reissue and wrote the liner notes. “They transformed the songs they covered – many composed by the industry’s top songwriters – and made them their own. Eternity’s Children clearly had all the ingredients necessary to conquer the pop world, yet their career path was littered with more pitfalls and landmines than most artists could ever fear to endure. Why did this band, whose talent far surpassed that of many of their more renowned contemporaries, fail to achieve the measure of acclaim and financial success they deserved?”

That is the big question. Eternity's Children certainly had the tunes, and there was a time when their very Hair, "Dawning of Aquarius" vibe was in vogue. Now, it feels like a product of its time but that's no bad thing. It's nice to look back, and enjoy.The post Vinyl Minded, Gift Guide Edition Vol. 3 first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Trump administration’s ban on foreign-made drones starts this week — you can say goodbye to new DJI modelsIt's the latest development in an evolving war between Chinese and American consumer tech products.

Old FM Radio Upcycled Into Classy Bluetooth Speaker[Distracted by Design] loves gear from the 1980s, though some of it isn’t as useful as it used to be. He happened across a cheap old FM radio with a great look, but wanted to repurpose it into something more modern. Thus, he set about turning this cheap piece of old electronics into a stylish Bluetooth speaker.
All of the original electronics were stripped out, while the original speaker was kept since it neatly fit the case. Electronically, the build relies on a Bluetooth module harvested from an existing speaker. 3D-printed bracketry was used to fasten it neatly into place inside the radio housing, with the buttons neatly presented where the original radio had its tone and volume controls. Power is via an internal lithium-ion battery, charged over USB-C thanks to an off-the-shelf charging module.
Where the build really shines, though, is the detailing. The original cheap plastic handle was replaced with a CNC-machined wooden piece, bolted on with machined aluminium side plates. Similarly, the original clear plastic tuning window was replaced with another tasteful piece of wood that dropped perfectly into place. At the back, the charge port is nicely integrated. Where the radio formerly had a removable door for the power cable storage, it now has a machined aluminium plate hosting the USB-C charge port. Little 3D-printed button actuators were also used to integrate the Bluetooth module’s controls into the case.
It’s a very stylish build, overall. Perhaps the one area it’s a let down is in the sound quality. The ancient speaker simply doesn’t sound great compared to modern Bluetooth speakers and their finely-tuned, bassy audio. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing—sometimes it’s nice to have an audio source with a limited frequency response. It can be nice for use in an area where you may want to be able to easily speak over the music.
If you want to build a Bluetooth speaker of your own, you might like to whip up an open-source design from scratch. Video after the break.

Fracture Sounds releases Blueprint: Dream Zither, a FREE ethereal plucks library for Kontakt Player
Fracture Sounds is back with the next addition to the free Blueprint series, Dream Zither. Even though these Blueprint instruments are free, I feel like a salesman because I go on about how good they are so often. But if you haven’t tried them yet, please do, they are epic. Dream Zither is the 25th [...]
View post: Fracture Sounds releases Blueprint: Dream Zither, a FREE ethereal plucks library for Kontakt Player

How Musicians Get Discovered in 2026: Case Study & Downloadable ChecklistMusic discovery and how musicians get discovered is no longer about landing one big moment. With listeners encountering new music across streaming playlists, short-form video, social feeds, and peer recommendations, discovery has become a process - not an event. For artists, the challenge isn’t just getting heard once, but building momentum that compounds over time.
The post How Musicians Get Discovered in 2026: Case Study & Downloadable Checklist appeared first on Hypebot.

Measure of Music Conference’s 2026 Speakers & Sponsors AnnouncedThe Measure of Music Conference & Workshop, presented by Chartmetric, which runs from Feb. 20-22, 2026, has announced a number of key speakers and an open call for proposals.
The post Measure of Music Conference’s 2026 Speakers & Sponsors Announced appeared first on Hypebot.

Chromeo and A-Trak on how they shape their sounds, collaboration, and more
In this exclusive interview, A-Trak and Chromeo's Dave 1 discuss their creative toolkits, collaborative process, and more.

Acustica Audio releases STONE, a FREE tone-shaping channel strip
Acustica Audio has released STONE, a free tone-shaping channel strip plugin for macOS and Windows. STONE is an Acqua plugin inspired by rare British broadcast and studio hardware from the 1960s and 1970s, and it’s permanently free with no limitations or demo mode. If you’ve followed Acustica Audio for a while, you’ll know that, coming [...]
View post: Acustica Audio releases STONE, a FREE tone-shaping channel strip

UltraRare YUNOST 70https://youtu.be/FAz1LAoqX9s The YUNOST 70 is a Soviet-era electric organ produced from 1970 to 1973 using germanium transistors, the foundation of early electronics. This version of the plugin features note-tuning for all built-in oscillators and an additional one, created using a recording of the instrument's built-in speaker on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, microphone, and tape, also from the 1970s. Read More

Shadow library claims it “backed up Spotify” – all 300TB of itAnna’s Archive, the open source search engine for shadow libraries, has announced it has effectively “backed up Spotify” – archiving hundreds of millions of tracks’ worth of metadata and audio files, and distributing the whole thing via torrents.
Best known for preserving books and academic papers, the group says it scraped metadata for around 256 million tracks and audio files for roughly 86 million songs. By its own estimate, that accounts for about 99.6 percent of all listens on Spotify, bundled into a dataset weighing just under 300TB and sorted by ‘popularity’.

READ MORE: Spotify’s new AI Prompted Playlists feature lets users “control the algorithm”

In a blog post, Anna’s Archive describes the project as the largest publicly available music metadata database in the world, framing it as a long-term, fully open “preservation archive” for modern music. The group argues that while chart-topping hits are unlikely to disappear, swathes of lesser-known music could be lost if streaming platforms drop licences or shut down entirely.
“A while ago, we discovered a way to scrape Spotify at scale. We saw a role for us here to build a music archive primarily aimed at preservation,” the post states. “This Spotify scrape is our humble attempt to start such a ‘preservation archive’ for music. Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start.”
According to Anna’s Archive, much of the audio originates from Spotify itself. Popular tracks are stored in their original 160kbps format, while less-played songs have been reencoded into smaller files to save space. The archive is said to contain about 37 percent of all songs available on Spotify as of July 2025. Metadata torrents are already live, while the audio files are being released in stages, starting with the most-streamed tracks.
Legally, however, the project sits on very shaky ground. Spotify licenses the vast majority of its catalogue under strict agreements with labels and rights holders, and mass scraping and redistribution of audio files – preservation-minded or not – violates both its terms of service and copyright law in many jurisdictions.
Following the announcement, the streaming giant released a statement confirming it had identified and disabled the accounts responsible: “Spotify has identified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” the company says. “We’ve implemented new safeguards for these types of anti-copyright attacks and are actively monitoring for suspicious behavior. Since day one, we have stood with the artist community against piracy, and we are actively working with our industry partners to protect creators and defend their rights.”
The post Shadow library claims it “backed up Spotify” – all 300TB of it appeared first on MusicTech.

Embertone offers E.L.V.E.S. festive choir instrument for Kontakt FREE for a limited time
Embertone has released E.L.V.E.S., a free virtual choir instrument for Kontakt, available for a limited time during the holiday season. E.L.V.E.S. stands for “Embertone Lyrical Voice Elevation System, although the name very much serves the purpose of being an acronym for elves. This is a playful holiday sample library designed to sound like a tiny [...]
View post: Embertone offers E.L.V.E.S. festive choir instrument for Kontakt FREE for a limited time

How to easily remove background noise from vocals with one clickAd feature with Sony and BandLab. Editor’s note: BandLab Technologies and MusicTech are both part of Caldecott Music Group.
Your best microphone is surely the one you have with you when inspiration strikes. And, as many singers, rappers and vocalists will understand, a creative idea for a melody or phrase might spark while you’re on a walk, on the train, or even in a laundry room. These are noisy places, and microphones on modern smartphones and earbuds are probably going to pick up some background noise, even if they capture your voice very effectively.
You might think that it takes audio wizardry to salvage your vocal recording from the hubbub of a laundry dryer or noisy reflections in a bathroom, but BandLab’s Voice Cleaner will help you with just one tap.
BandLab’s new feature is available directly from the BandLab app on your smartphone and in your browser. But just how convincing is this new AI-powered feature? Can it really help your vocal recording shine, even in the weirdest of environments?
To find out, we’re testing the effectiveness of BandLab’s Voice Cleaner in three areas: Background noise, room reflections, and frequency issues. You can watch below as we record vocals in bustling woodland, a living room with poor acoustics, and a shower room — all using the microphone of a cheap pair of wired earbuds.

How does BandLab Voice Cleaner work?
BandLab’s Voice Cleaner uses an AI-powered engine to remove background noise, reduce unwanted echoes, and balance the frequencies in your vocal recordings. These are cleanly integrated into there features, which you can toggle on or off: Noise Remover, DeReverb and AutoEQ.
To access these tools, simply click on your audio recording within your BandLab project, click Voice Cleaner, and wait a few seconds for it to work its magic.
Voice Cleaner is available to all BandLab users with a BandLab Membership.
A BandLab Membership gives you over 50 additional creator tools within the BandLab app in your web browser or on your iPad, iPhone or Android device. This lets you compose, create and arrange music, with innovative tools built in, including automatic track mixing, visual EQ, advanced voice processing and auto-generation with Extend, Re-compose and Layer composition and arrangement features. Along with Voice Cleaner comes Voice Changer, which lets you change the sound of your voice with 15 different vocal styles.
BandLab’s Membership price is currently at its lowest ever, at just $70 for the year, which is the equivalent of $5.80 per month. You can claim this deal now at BandLab.com.
The post How to easily remove background noise from vocals with one click appeared first on MusicTech.

ROYAL 2 virtual bassist plugin by UJAM is only $9 at Plugin Boutique
Plugin Boutique is currently offering the ROYAL 2 virtual bass guitar plugin by UJAM for just $9, down from the regular $119 price tag. That’s a massive 92% discount, available until January 4th (and you also get a free gift with your purchase). ROYAL 2 is part of UJAM’s Virtual Bassist series. It shares the [...]
View post: ROYAL 2 virtual bassist plugin by UJAM is only $9 at Plugin Boutique