Manatt’s music streaming royalty calculator is the best we’ve seenSince streaming services began paying musicians and labels, we’ve seen dozens of calculators purporting to predict earnings, but one just launched by consultancy Manatt looks to be the most up-to-date. Continue reading
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Live Nation responds to Sen. Klobuchar’s all-in ticket pricing concernsLast week, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar wrote to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino over concerns that the concert giant and its ticketing arm Ticketmaster were not moving fast enough to. Continue reading
The post Live Nation responds to Sen. Klobuchar’s all-in ticket pricing concerns appeared first on Hypebot.

Torsion Audio’s Syclone Is A FREE Neural Transfer Plugin
Torsion Audio releases Syclone, a FREE neural transfer plugin for macOS and Windows, promising a new approach to audio production. The Syclone plugin uses neural timbre transfer technology to deliver a new artificial layering technique. In short and simple terms, Syclone transfers the timbre of a given sound/instrument (trained model) to the original input. The [...]
View post: Torsion Audio’s Syclone Is A FREE Neural Transfer Plugin

State Machine instrument range from Cradle The latest three software instruments from Cradle cover a range of bass, synth and keys sounds, and all share a common set of controls and sound design tools. 

Will Apple’s “scary fast” M3 chips boost speeds for music producers?Apple has announced its new M3 family of processor chips, made up of the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max.

READ MORE: Apple patent documents show proposed MacBook with attachable turntable

The announcement was made during Apple’s latest Apple Event, dubbed the “scary fast” event, yesterday on Monday 30 October, which you can watch below. The announcement event revolved around the new M3 family, with Apple outlining how the chips will benefit MacBook and iMac users.

The M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips are the first to use 3-nanometer technology, featuring a more efficient GPU, dynamic caching, and hardware-accelerated rendering features. These chips represent a significant leap in graphics architecture for Apple Silicon (Apple’s own system used in chips), targeting a wide range of users, from students to music producers and video editors.
The different M3 chips are used in various MacBook Pro models to cater to different user needs. The all-new MacBook Pro, now available in Space Black, with M3, is ideal for students, business owners, musicians, and video editors, offering a 60 percent speed boost over the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1.
Credit: Apple
The MacBook Pro with M3 Pro is designed for coders, creatives, and researchers, providing up to 40 per cent more performance than the 16-inch model with M1 Pro.
Lastly, the MacBook Pro with M3 Max targets machine learning programmers, 3D artists, and video editors, offering up to 11 times the speed of the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro model and supporting up to 128GB of unified memory for large and complex projects.
Will the Apple M3 chips be useful for music producers?
The short answer is ‘yes’. The M3 chips bring big benefits to music producers. With enhanced performance and rendering capabilities, they streamline music production tasks, making the MacBook Pro with M3 a solid choice for professionals using resource-intensive digital audio workstations.
The M3 Max, with its rapid speed and support for up to 128GB of memory, is especially useful for complex projects on the likes of Ableton Live or Logic Pro. These chips empower music producers with the processing power needed for more efficient and seamless music creation.
This Apple Event followed another announcement briefing made by the company in September. At this event, Apple announced the second generation of AirPods Pro, alongside the iPhone 15 and a new Apple Watch.
Find out more about the M3 chips via Apple.
The post Will Apple’s “scary fast” M3 chips boost speeds for music producers? appeared first on MusicTech.

BPB Cassette Drums Is A FREE Tape Drum Machine Plugin
Bedroom Producers Blog releases BPB Cassette Drums, a free sample-based virtual drum machine featuring the sounds of a Roland TR-808, TR-909, TR-606, and the MFB-522 Drum Computer. BPB Cassette Drums is the new and improved edition of our old cassette drum bundle. The new version of the plugin combines all the drum kits into a single unit [...]
View post: BPB Cassette Drums Is A FREE Tape Drum Machine Plugin

Max MSP Beginners Guide: Creating an Input and Oscillator on a software synthesizerIn this tutorial, you will learn how to build a basic synthesiser, just using an input/output and an oscillator. We’ll be providing the foundations for you to add important functions such as an envelope and filters in the next few tutorials.

READ MORE: Max MSP Beginners Guide: How to build a monophonic software synthesizer

To start, create a new patch page, following the instructions in the last guide. Then, we recommend that you use the comment tool to write the labels ‘input’, ‘oscillator’ and ‘output’ at the top of the patch. These will act as headers and will help you understand what part of the patch is doing what.
The Input
Building the input ensures that you can connect your MIDI controller to the patch, then convert the MIDI numbers to a frequency value, or pitch. You’ll need to make it so all the values are in Hz – this will make it a lot easier to work with going forward.
Firstly, add the object ‘notein’ – this receives MIDI note messages. If you hover your mouse under the outlets of the object, they’ll read Pitch, Velocity and MIDI channel.
So that you can can see which MIDI data is coming in from your MIDI keyboard, connect two ‘Number’ objects to Pitch and Velocity.
Next, create the object ‘Kslider’, which will provide a visual representation of what key you are pressing on your MIDI keyboard. Connect the bottom left inlet of the Pitch number to the top left inlet of the Kslider, and the bottom left inlet of the Velocity number to the top left inlet of the Kslider.
It should look something like this:
After connecting MIDI controller to patch and converting MIDI numbers to frequency value/pitch
The next step is to convert the MIDI data to frequency values. You can do this simply through the object named ‘mtof’, which you will need to connect from the bottom left inlet of the ‘Kslider’.
A top tip here, to make it easier to see what ‘mtof’ is actually doing to the signal, is to add a number box to the wire above the ‘mtof’ object, and a floating number below.
Your finished input should look like this:
After converting MIDI data to frequency values
The Oscillator
Now you’ll find that your MIDI Keyboard is controlling the patch but isn’t triggering any noise. This is where the oscillator (and the output) comes in.
An oscillator is made up of a series of waveforms. Commonly, this will include a sine wave, triangle wave, square wave, and sawtooth wave. Luckily, Max MSP has objects that produce these different sound waves, so we simply need to put them into the patch and set them to the desired level using a gain slider.
This is where synthesizers can differ depending on which sound waves you employ. We’ll be using a blend of all four so we can create presets (which will be discussed in tutorial five) to change the levels of each sound wave.
Under the Oscillator heading, create four objects: cycle~ (sine), tri~ (triangle), rect~ (rectangle), and saw~ (sawtooth). This is how the synth will generate sound. However, to control how much of each wave you’re hearing, you will need to attach a gain slider, using ‘gain~’ to each sound wave object, using the bottom outlet.
If you are ever confused about the purpose of an object, you can hold down alt/option and click on an object. A help tab will pop up and give you all the information you need.
In order to make the connection between the input and the oscillator simpler and less messy, you can use a floating number object both after the ‘mtof’, and before your sound waves, so that the connection between the input and oscillator is one wire, rather than four.
This is what the finished input and connected oscillator should look like. However if you are using a different sound wave configuration, don’t worry if yours looks different:
Finished input and connected oscillator
The Output
So that you can hear the lovely sounds being created by the oscillator, you need to build and attach the all-important output.
Understandably, if you just attached the gain sliders straight to an output object (‘ezdac’), it would be very loud – there are four different signals being output, after all. To mitigate this, you’ll need to find a way to attenuate the signal before it reaches the output. There are two ways to do this.
First, you can multiply all four of the signals by 0.5, which will cut the volume in half. To do so, you need to create the object ‘*~ 0.5’, and connect all four of the gain sliders to it from their bottom left inlets. You can use either the left or right top inlet of the multiplication object, but just so you can add the envelope on to it in the next tutorial, it will be best to attach them to the right inlet.
Secondly, create two more gain sliders to control the left and right audio channels. You need to connect these to the bottom of the multiplication object using the respective outlets and inlets. The volume of the attenuated signal can now be controlled before it is output to our speaker.

As this is a monophonic synthesiser, you need to join the right and left audio channels by connecting a wire between the bottom right of the left audio channel gain slider to the top left of the right channel gain slider. When you control the left channel, the right one should move too.
Now you’ve attenuated the signal and added in a volume control, connect it to an output object, using ‘ezdac’. Once it has been put into the patch, join the left outlets of the gain sliders to both the left and right inlets on the ‘ezdac’ objects to ensure that both the left and right channels sound monophonic.
Another top tip from us: You might find that the wires are not as neat as you might want. To get them in order, you need to press ctrl/command +A to highlight the patch, and then press ctrl/command + shift + Y.
You’ll find that, even though you are no longer holding down a key, it still plays out, but don’t worry. This is why, in the next guide, we will be building an envelope that controls how long a note plays for.
You now have a basic but functioning monophonic synthesiser. Feel free to have a tinker with the oscillator, adding as many sound waves in whatever combinations you like.
If you haven’t downloaded Max MSP yet, you can access a four week trial on Cycling74.com
The post Max MSP Beginners Guide: Creating an Input and Oscillator on a software synthesizer appeared first on MusicTech.

Major labels “overhauling contracts” to prevent artists from re-recording their music like Taylor Swift hasMajor labels are reportedly “overhauling contracts” for newly signed artists, with some now restricting artists from re-recording their music no earlier than 10 years or more after leaving their label.
These new limits appear to have been implemented following the success of pop artist Taylor Swift who is re-recording her albums to regain ownership of her music. The musician is releasing her records as revamped Taylor’s Version cuts.

READ MORE: Dance music has sped up in recent years – and social media is the cause, says Sam Paganini

Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group are three major labels who have recently overhauled contracts for new signees to introduce these new restrictions, according to Billboard.
“The first time I saw [UMG’s new contracts], I tried to get rid of it entirely,” attorney Josh Karp tells the outlet. “I was just like, ‘What is this? This is strange. Why would we agree to further restrictions than we’ve agreed to in the past with the same label?’”
Attorney Josh Binder also says, “[The labels’] position is, ‘Hey, if we’re going to spend a bunch of money creating this brand with you, then you should not try and create records to compete with us.’ We try and fight it. We try and make it as short as possible. But I don’t find it to be the most compelling issue to fight.”
Because of these implementations, some artists are said to be moving towards licensing deals. These would allow artists more ownership of their masters whilst the label would handle distribution. In traditional record deal contracts, artists sign away the rights to their recordings for a set timeframe.
As reported by Vox, Swift’s process to re-record her catalogue began back in 2019. Her old record label, Big Machine Records, had been sold to music manager Scooter Braun. The move gave Braun the rights to all the master recordings for her old music, which Swift was publicly upset about. She moved to Republic Records and negotiated to own the rights to all of her master recordings going forward.
The post Major labels “overhauling contracts” to prevent artists from re-recording their music like Taylor Swift has appeared first on MusicTech.

Black Friday deals 2023: Best early deals for music producers, DJs, beatmakers and musiciansCold nights. Falling leaves. For many, this time of the year spells Halloween and Thanksgiving. It also means Black Friday and Cyber Monday are upon us.

READ MORE: Best free plugins and freeware of the month: October 2023

Taking place this year on 24 November, Black Friday is when tons of music tech manufacturers and retailers slash their prices, offering an array of limited deals, with many starting their offers weeks ahead.
Perhaps there’s been a specific hardware or software product that’s been on your radar this year, or maybe you’re just on the lookout for something new to freshen up your setup. Whatever it is, nabbing some juicy Black Friday sales might help keep your studio fresh, so it’s worth keeping an eye out.
As we move into the run-up to the big day on 24 November and its follow-up, Cyber Monday, on 27 November, we’ve created a one-stop shop for the best Black Friday deals. Be sure to check back here and save your time and money.
Best early Black Friday deals for musicians
Producer working in a music studio. Image: wundervisuals via Getty Images

Plugin Boutique: 50% off BFD’s BFD3 plugin
Plugin Boutique: 100% off Pulsar Audio W495 plugin
Andertons: Up to 40% off on Behringer pedals
Spitfire Audio: Save 40% on virtual instruments
Loopmasters: Up to 20% off selected sample packs
Amazon: 21% off Sony WH-1000XM5 Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones
Native Instruments: Buy one Play Series instrument, get one free
Waves: Buy 2 Plugins Get 2 Free
IK Multimedia: 60% off AmpliTube 5 SE

What is Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are related annual events that kick off the holiday shopping season. Originating in the United States, it’s a weekend for brands to offer massive discounts and exclusive promotions that are only available for a limited amount of time.
The tradition began in the early 20th century. The term ‘Black Friday’ was coined to describe the chaotic Friday after Thanksgiving each year – a day when shops would offer their products for low prices. The term was officially used in the 1950s, but it was in the 1960s that it really turned into a global shopping phenomenon. It’s called ‘Black’ Friday because businesses would see their revenue transition from making a loss (‘in the red’) to making a profit (‘in the black’) during this period.
The term ‘Cyber Monday’ was later coined in 2005. It’s a follow-up day of deals after traditionally taking place on the Monday after thanksgiving and Black Friday, with offers exclusively taking place online. Arguably as important as Black Friday, Cyber Monday acts as an extra day to grab deals but from the comfort of your own home, meaning you don’t have to face the chaos of high street shoppers during the holiday period.
Black Friday sales sign at Walmart. Image: Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images
When are Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Black Friday takes place on 24 November 2023, with Cyber Monday following on 27 November 2023. Sales usually start at midnight on Friday but, as the event has expanded across the globe, many companies extend their Black Friday sales over the course of several weeks, starting as early as October. So, even if you think you might miss a Black Friday drop, you can still keep your eyes peeled throughout November to cop yourself a deal.
Typically, Black Friday and Cyber Monday fall annually on the final weekend of November, just a day after Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday marks the end of most of the price cuts, so you’ll want to head to the virtual checkout with those synths in your cart before midnight on Monday 27 November, or you might miss out.
Who has the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for music producers, DJs and musicians?
Generally, retailers will have the most varied and extensive Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Some brands will host stellar offers directly, so it’s worth shopping around if you have time.
To help you out, we’ve listed the best music retailers hosting Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals below.

Thomann
zZounds
Amazon
Plugin Boutique
Loopmasters
Dawsons
Reverb
Gear4Music
Andertons
Sweetwater

Don’t forget that these are just online sales. Black Friday is historically a brick-and-mortar affair. If you can brave the chaos of the in-person sales, try heading to your local music gear store on Black Friday to see what else you can get your hands on.
[Editor’s note: Dawons and MusicTech are both part of Caldecott Music Group.]
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Heritage Audio’s R.A.M 1000 monitor controller Said to be the ideal solution for mid-sized studios and self-recording musicians, the R.A.M 1000 offers many features found in Heritage Audio's larger controllers and also offers built-in Bluetooth connectivity.

Recent Classical Highlights for October 2023Some of this month's classical highlights include new recordings by veteran performers, but also new music. Angela Hewitt (pictured) released her second volume of the Mozart piano sonatas, while Heinz Holliger put together a recital of French, primarily 20th century music for oboe, as a few examples of the diversity of recent albums.

FluffyAudio Cartoon Maestro In developing the Cartoon Maestro, FluffyAudio aimed to encapsulate the essence and diversity of scores from the golden age of animation. They engaged in detailed analysis and transcription... Read More

Max Q: ABL Space nears next launchIn this issue: ABL Space nears next launch, news from SpaceX and more.
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