Focusrite’s Scarlett 4th Generation range enhances the world’s most popular audio interfaceFocusrite has launched the fourth generation of its coveted Scarlett audio interface range. The series includes three new products – the Scarlett Solo, 2i2, and 4i4, along with two new Studio bundles.

READ MORE: The best audio interfaces to buy in 2023: 10 best audio interfaces under $500

To date, Focusrite has sold over six million Scarletts across the series – here’s what the brand has learned and implemented into its fourth generation.
Each Focusrite Scarlett 4th Gen audio interface range offers 120dB dynamic range, which makes use of the converters from Focurite’s pro-grade RedNet series. Featuring new remote-controlled preamps with 69dB of gain, the interfaces ensure optimal sound quality from any microphone, the brand says.
The Air mode has been re-engineered, incorporating Presence and a fresh Harmonic Drive. Auto Gain function automatically adjusts recording levels, while Clip Safe prevents clipping by adjusting gain automatically. A new custom-designed headphone amp delivers apparently superior playback quality.
Perhaps most obvious is the Dynamic Gain Halos, which have been redesigned with output metering, updating the iconic Scarlett Gain Halos. The front panel of each Scarlett has also been tweaked in an effort to streamline your setup process.
Focusrite Scarlett 4th Gen. Image: Focusrite
The new Scarlett Solo is ideal for singer-songwriters, with a compact design, mic preamp, Hi-Z input and a custom headphone amp.
The 2i2 has two remote-controlled mic preamps, with two Hi-Z inputs, a Clip Safe function, Auto Gain, and Air mode. The 4i4 also has two mic preamps but adds switchable line/Hi-Z inputs, fixed line inputs, four balanced outputs, and MIDI I/O.
In addition to these new interfaces, Focusrite is offering two Studio bundles. The Scarlett Solo Studio and Scarlett 2i2 Studio packs include either a Solo or 2i2 interface, along with a CM25 MkIII studio condenser mic, and SH-450 closed-back headphones, providing all the essentials for immediate studio-quality recording.
In our review of the 4i4, we said: “Practically everything about the new 4th Gen Scarlett 4i4 is an improvement over its highly popular predecessor, but there is one thing that may dent that popularity: price.
“Nevertheless,the new Scarlett 4i4 delivers a top-notch sound, has sufficient I/O for many different projects, is easy to use and looks smarter than ever – it’s hard to think of an interface better-suited to a small studio or portable setup.”
Prices for the new range of audio interfaces are as follows: Solo – $139.99, 2i2 – $199.99, 4i4 – $279.99, Solo Studio – $249.99, 2i2 Studio – $299.99.
Find out more at focusrite.com.
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Classical Highlights for August 2023The reviews from this month display the prowess of several up-and-coming soloists including pianist Su Yeon Kim (pictured) who issued a wonderful debut with a recital of music by Mozart, and Yunchan Lim's Gold Medal performance from the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition which delivers brilliant performances of Liszt's Études d'exécution transcendante.

Backline Announces World Mental Health Day Events, Tom Petty Benefit ConcertBackline, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides mental health and wellness resources to the music industry and their family members announces Handle With Care - a World Mental Health Day Benefit and Tom Petty Tribute featuring performances by Wynonna Judd, Brittney Spencer, Charles Wesley Godwin, Ella Langley, Maggie Rose, Sierra Hull, Vince Herman, Derek Wells, and more on 10/10/23 at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville. Handle with Care is presented by Master Tour, the music industry’s leading software for touring and logistics, Gateway Studios & Production Services, a world-class live touring rehearsal complex and production services company, and ACM Lifting Lives, the philanthropic partner of the Academy of Country Music.

Ahead of the benefit show, Backline will be hosting the inaugural two-day Harmony In Practice Clinical Training Workshops for mental health providers. Backline maintains a clinical community of 582+ vetted providers across all 50 states. These providers accept referrals from Backline’s Case Management program, where music industry professionals are able to receive custom mental health care plans.

The Harmony in Practice Clinical Training Workshops will be led by music industry professionals and licensed providers, and will cover Backline’s firsthand experience, profession-specific situations, and effective treatment approaches, equipping providers with invaluable skills and tools to effectively support their clients. Providers and sessions include the following:

Ari Jacobson, LCPC, NCC (Working with members of the music industry, the need for resources in the music industry, and open discussion)

Heather Monroe, LCSW (Working with Relational Trauma in the Music Industry)

Danielle Archer, EdD, LMHC (Family Systems in the Music Industry)

Dorian Lamis, PhD, ABPP (Suicide Assessment, Intervention, and Safety Planning in the Music Industry)

Janey Brown: (Fear to Fearce: Embrace your Dark Side, Unleash Your Mental Warrior)

More information and tickets can be found at: backline.care/nashville-2023

No, Bitcoin withdrawals from exchanges are not inherently bullish for cryptoTraders say the record-low number of BTC held on exchanges is a bull signal, but data suggests otherwise.

Generative AI startup AI21 Labs lands $155M at a $1.4B valuationAI21 Labs, a Tel Aviv-based startup developing a range of text-generating AI tools, has raised $155 million in a Series C funding round led by Walden Catalyst, Pitango, SCB10X, b2venture, Samsung Next and Amnon Shashua, the founder of Intel-owned Mobileye and an AI21 Labs co-founder. Google and Nvidia also participated. The tranche, which brings AI21 […]

Native Instruments’ upcoming Traktor X1 MK3 Building on the sucess of its predecessors, Native Instrument's latest DJ controller introduces a range of new features based on feedback gathered from the Traktor community.

Goldman Sachs’ Lisa Yang: Why I’m bullish about music streaming’s futureLisa Yang, senior Goldman executive and lead author of Music In The Air, joins the MBW Podcast
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Exceleration Music expands to Asia by investing in India-based indie label Azadi RecordsCompany makes financial investment in India-headquartered independent record label, Azadi Records
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UVI Synth Anthology 4 Synth Anthology 4 - A Synthesizer Tour de Force: The authentic sound of 200 synthesizers, from vintage to modern. 4,000+ presets and layers deliver incredible sound with hardware... Read More

Marshall’s Motif II ANC earbuds promise “front row sound”Iconic British music brand Marshall has officially launched its new Motif II ANC earbuds, which are said to “deliver huge sound in a tiny package”.
Building on the original Marshall Motif earbuds that launched back in 2021, the Motif II earbuds offer 10 more hours of playtime with its (newly improved) ANC activated.

READ MORE: Best Wireless Earbuds: Best all-purpose wireless earbuds for under £150

The new earbuds build upon their predecessor, which we originally rated a 7/10 in our review due to the ANC being inferior to the similarly-priced Apple’s AirPods Pro. However, they offered crisp mids and highs, and had a more attractive design.
In the Motif II ANC buds, noise cancellation has been improved, says Marshall, with the ability to block out crowded rides on public transport and other commotion. You can also now swiftly switch over to Transparency mode to have a short conversation without interrupting the flow of the music.
Delivering 10 additional hours of playtime with ANC activated than the original Motif buds, these earphones deliver six hours of wireless playtime, and the charging case provides 30 hours of listening time on the go. It also offers a quick charge ability, which gives one hour of extra playtime in just 15 minutes of charging.

They’re also Bluetooth LE Audio-ready “to ensure the best possible connection”, and the brand describes the tech as “future-proof”. It delivers higher-quality audio, which Marshall touts as “front row sound,” while increasing the streaming range and improving audio sync, for a better connection when watching videos.
Motif II ANC also comes with improved battery preservation, and its case and buds are made from 70 per cent post-consumer recycled plastic, which includes used electronics, water bottles and even automotive light covers.
The Marshall Motif II ANC earbuds are listed at £179.99 and will be shipping from 12 September.
Find out more on the official Marshall website.
The post Marshall’s Motif II ANC earbuds promise “front row sound” appeared first on MusicTech.

Sonnox announce Voca plug-in Voca offers an all-in-one vocal procesing solution that combines compression and saturation, and provides a simple set of controls intended to help users quickly acheive their desired sound.

Producer Jeremiah Chiu uses Vintage Synth Museum to create album in two daysElectronic composer and producer Jeremiah Chiu has announced an album that was made in the space of just two days at The Vintage Synth Museum in LA.

READ MORE: Watch Tycho show off his complex “mothership stereo effects rig” process

The album, In Electric Time, is set to be released on 29 September 2023 via record label International Anthem. It was created on 29/30 June and features 12 tracks created by Chiu, with additions by engineer Ben Lumsdaine. Cooper Crain (of Bitchin Bajas) also makes an appearance on the album. You can listen to the first single from the album below:

The album was solely recorded via analogue by Lumsdaine at the Vintage Synth Museum, an interactive museum and electronic music recording studio in LA’s Highland Park.
According to a press release, Chiu worked with lots of vintage gear, finding unique sweet spots for melodies and rhythms and maintaining a raw, spontaneous feeling by improvisatory editing.
The, frankly, insane number of synths used include an Elka Synthex, EML Electrocomp 101, EMS Vocoder 2000, Gleeman Pentaphonic, Oberheim 4-Voice, several Korg synths [Mono/Poly, MS10, MS20, MS50, PS3100, Trident MKII], Maestro Rhythm King, Roland synths [CR-8000, Juno– 60, Jupiter–6, Jupiter–8, JX–3P, RE–301 Space Echo, RS–505, SH–101, TR–606, TR–808], and the Serge Modular I.
On the project, Chiu says, “The approach to the improvisations was to embrace the mixer setups at VSM — where a section of synthesizers are all routed to a single mixer/patchbay — and to start at one end of the studio and work our way around the six different sections. I began with the synths I was most familiar with — or had spent years researching — and was fairly certain I could reign in quickly.

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A post shared by Vintage Synthesizer Museum (@vintagesynthmuseum)

“When working with vintage gear, there’s always a sweet spot where the instrument sings in a unique way. This may be the idiosyncrasies of its filter and how it resonates, the action of the keys, the ability to trigger and use control voltage to sequence, or the unique onboard features. I love finding the moments where a melody or rhythm appears in an unexpected way — at times feeling more like archaeology than sculpture.
“I was quite improvisatory with the editing as well, often pulling bits from distinctly different sections in dialogue with each other, in order to maintain the raw, spontaneous feeling. I loved hearing moments in the recordings when Ben started or stopped tape, so a take that was running long and beyond its moment would hit directly against a fresh idea.”
Vintage Synth Museum, LA
Vintage Synth Museum’s founder and curator, Lance Hill, says on the album: “Jeremiah arrived before the engineer showed up. We talked for maybe 5 minutes before he started programming a sound and sequence into the Gleeman Pentaphonic. By the time the engineer showed up, Jeremiah had built several other parts around the Gleeman that weren’t synced by any control method but sounded like they were just calling and responding to each other. They plugged the Tascam 388 into the patch bay, and hit record. Jeremiah played with it, and that was it. First piece written and recorded in under an hour. It felt natural, fun and free. And that’s pretty much how the rest of the session went. Constant ecstatic motion. It was the funnest non-hip-hop session I’ve ever worked on.”
Pre-order In Electric Time via International Anthem’s Bandcamp.
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SideKick2 Is A FREE Sidechain Plugin For Windows
Rewired Records has just released a free sidechain plugin for Windows called SideKick2. Apart from the naming and look-feel affinities with the renowned Nicky Romero’s KickStart 2, it looks like a solid plugin! As you would expect, its primary purpose is to create the classic sidechain pumping effect so common in EDM and similar genres. [...]
View post: SideKick2 Is A FREE Sidechain Plugin For Windows

Watch Tycho show off his complex “mothership stereo effects rig” processAmerican electronic producer and musician Tycho has revealed his impressive studio setup in a video for music tech marketplace, Reverb.

READ MORE: Watch: Legowelt runs through his “crap” thrift store ‘home synths’

The video, uploaded to Reverb.com’s YouTube channel, shows the producer – real name Scott Hanson – run through the hardware in the San Francisco-based space. He also explains the order in which he employs his vast number of hardware effects.

Standing at his “mothership stereo effects rig,” as he calls it, Hanson reveals his complex approach to effects processing. The signal starts in mono and enters the chain, he says, where the Strymon Volante converts it to stereo for enhanced width.
For mono synths, the Strymon Flint introduces tremolo before pre-tremolo reverb, creating rhythmic volume-gated effects. The Strymon Big Sky offers versatile reverb, while the GFI Specular Tempus adds pitch-shifted delay and spring reverb-like textures. These effects feed into the Strymon Deco for flanging and finally pass through the Elektron Analog Heat. Here, intense reverb or tremolo-treated sounds are driven through a high-pass filter and aggressive drive, resulting in a gritty, distorted soundscape, characteristic of Tycho’s style found on the likes of his 2012 album, Dive.
Dive by Tycho
Hanson also explains how ergonomics and accessibility are essential when considering where he places his equipment. He also emphasises that while hardware is important, about 75 per cent of his production process involves in-the-box VST effects and digital instruments.
Surprisingly, he says that while he loves his monitors, he mostly uses headphones as they are “a little bit more honest.”
A peculiar piece of hardware he shows off is his custom-made mechanical controller designed specifically for Reaper. It’s made out of an old school computer keyboard and is used, he says, “so he doesn’t have to touch the mouse and keyboard if he doesn’t want [to].”
In 2020, MusicTech got the chance to get an insight into Tycho’s studio processes. In the conversation, the producer refers to his signature combination of chords and reverb, saying how he “takes a reverb and runs it through a distortion and a filter, puts another reverb on it, then puts maybe another reverb on it before the delay”, to create “really interesting pads.”
Listen to Tycho’s music via his Bandcamp.
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