Plugin Boutique is offering “the lowest price ever” on iZotope’s Ozone 12 mastering suitePlugin Boutique is currently offering some huge deals across iZotope plugins, with huge savings on its Ozone 12 mastering suite tiers.
Right now, you can get up to 52 percent off a range of iZotope mixing and mastering tools, but offers end on 15 April so you’ll need to act fast. All three tiers of Ozone 12 – Elements, Standard and Advanced – are currently reduced, as well as there being huge savings on bundle deals and other iZotope plugins.
[deals ids=”6wBAV3J8k58MDnRDqQWFyl”]
iZotope Ozone 12 was launched in September 2025 and introduced new modules and an update to its AI-powered assistant. The previous version of Ozone landed in 2023, and scored a 9/10 in our review. Though a near perfect score, we did note that the AI assistant needed some tweaks.

READ MORE: The best new plugins this week, free and paid

At the launch of Ozone 12, iZotope said that the AI assistant in this new iteration had “intelligent tech that guides, not decides”, and reiterated that the implementation of AI within its products is intended solely to help and inspire.

MusicTech also reviewed Ozone 12, and scored it 8/10. We noted that its Stem EQ could be a game-changer for those mastering other people’s music, and that its AI features “are assistive and not prescriptive”. We did note that the Advanced edition is quite expensive, but thanks to Plugin Boutique it’s now down to £383 with 20 percent off.
Ozone 12 Standard also has 20 percent off (now £167), but the streamlined Elements version offers the biggest saving with 47 percent off, making it just £29. You can also save on upgrades and crossgrades.
iZotope’s Music Production Suite 8.5 is also on sale, again with savings on upgrades and crossgrades, or you can purchase it individually for £615 with 20 percent off.
Find out more and view all iZotope deals at Plugin Boutique.
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Upgrading a MacBook Neo Using a 1 TB iPhone NAND FlashThe nekkid Flash footprint with unused pads perimeter. (Credit: dosdude1, YouTube)
For some reason the newly introduced MacBook Neo appears to be the subject of a lot of modding, though a recent mod by [dosdude1] leans into the fact that this laptop has been assembled using what are effectively iPhone 16 parts inside a laptop case. This consequently means that there’s an overlap with certain iPhone 16 components, such as the NAND Flash. Incidentally storage on the Neo is limited to 512 GB when you purchase it from Apple, which is weird since the same SoC in the iPhone 16 Pro happily uses 1 TB.
Even if it was just a price point thing that Apple went for, there’s seemingly nothing standing between a Neo owner with a hot air gun and sheer determination. As long as you’re comfortable soldering a fine-pitched BGA NAND Flash package, natch.
Of course, there was always the possibility that Apple used a different NAND Flash package footprint, but the installed 256 GB model chip that comes installed matches the replacement 1 TB model K8A5 chip as hoped. This just left disassembly and preparing the PCB for a storage replacement. Removal of the BGA underfill and desoldering the old chip without taking out surrounding SMD parts is definitely the hardest part, but handled in the video with the equivalent of an IC spatula and a temporary removal of some capacitors.
Interestingly, the uncovered IC footprint shows a whole perimeter of unused pads that might target other NAND Flash packages. Regardless, the new chip installed fine, giving the Neo 1 TB of storage and a slightly faster read/write performance.

Audiotool is hosting a “hackathon series” to teach people how to make virtual instruments, plugins and music education toolsAudiotool, a free multiplayer music studio, is launching a new initiative to get more people making virtual instruments, music-related games, and music education tools, without any need for coding skills.
The initiative, called Let’s Build!, partners with organisations and educational institutions around the world, and will run from 11 May – 6 July this year. This “hackathon series” will bring together students, musicians, music lovers, and developers to make apps and DAW extensions using AI-powered coding and NEXUS, Audiotool’s SDK.

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Events will happen online on Audiotool’s Dev Discord, as well as in real life at partnering organisations. The resulting projects will go before a panel of judges, including Manon Dave, Head of Future World Design at BBC Research & Development and award-winning music producer who has worked on projects for will.i.am and Idris Elba.
Along with top music schools, such as Berklee and NYU, Audiotool will collaborate with some of its long-standing supporters, including the Esports World Cup, Esports Nations Cup, and the WHO Youth Council. Let’s Build! is also supported by OpenAI, Base44, and ElevenLabs, among others.
Audiotool says that Let’s Build! is “the first step in what promises to be the complete transformation of music into a flexible world where everyone can play thanks to AI code assistants”. Andreas Jacobi, its co-founder and CEO, says its core ethos is to be “community-first”.
Jacobi says, “We have worked for years to remove barriers to collaboration, creativity, and exploration, and now technology is allowing us to tear down yet another – the technical barrier between a cool idea and an amazing new piece of software. If you can describe it, you can now build it. We can’t wait to see what community members, music-loving developers, artists, really anyone who’s excited about coding, come up with.”
Manon Dave adds, “I’m super excited to be invited to judge the Let’s Build! hackathon. I started out making tunes in my bedroom and hacking away on software similar to Audiotool, trying to find a unique sound for my music, so I know how powerful it is when you’re given the chance to get under the hood and bring your ideas to life.
“What Audiotool is doing here is opening that up even further, bringing creativity and coding together so people can build entirely new ways of making music. I’m excited to see what people create when you have the space to experiment.”
Find out more or sign up for free via Audiotool.
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Ethereum Foundation nearly reaches 70,000 staked ETH goalThe non-profit foundation has staked 69,500 ETH, nearly reaching the goal it unveiled at the end of February, less than two months ago.

Pulsar-23: 1984 from SOMA Laboratory SOMA Laboratories have revealed an upcoming special-edition version of their Pulsar-23 unit that’s been created in collaboration with The Midium and the SOMA US division. 

SoundCloud now lets you share releases exclusively with followersSoundCloud has launched a new feature called Follower Exclusive Releases, letting Artist Pro users share tracks exclusively with their followers, either for a limited time only or indefinitely.
This new feature builds on its ethos of community, and is a way for artists to reward their most loyal listeners by deepening relationships. It means fans can hear tracks before others, DM artists directly, and even engage with music while it’s still in development. Artists can give their followers the first listen to early demos or something finalised as a surprise drop.

READ MORE: Electro-Harmonix partners with MixWave to bring its classic pedals to plugin form

The feature launches with support from Dutch DJ and producer Chris Stussy, who will release his track What makes you feel exclusively to his SoundCloud followers ahead of the full release of his debut album Lost, Found & Forgotten…, arriving 3 April.
“I’ve been using SoundCloud since the start. During my early days I was uploading a lot of podcasts and recorded sets. I sometimes gave away a free download or posted snippets of upcoming tracks I was making.
“For this occasion I’d like to share What makes you feel… as a thank you for everyone who’s been listening to me on the platform all those years. It’s part of the Forgotten side of my album and I’m playing this track a lot as my intro the last couple of months. Enjoy this one, all the best,” he says.

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Follower Exclusive Releases follows on from a number of other SoundCloud upgrades for artists, which launched in 2025. Back in July, it was announced that the platform had partnered with elasticStage, allowing musicians to release their work on vinyl.
In the same month, SoundCloud also rolled out a text feature allowing artists to connect with their fans on a more personal level, and announced the integration of Hook, an app that lets you legally remix songs for social media.
Find out more about Follower Exclusive Releases via SoundCloud.
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The Crow Hill Company announce Crystal Pianos Rather than faithfully capturing an acoustic instrument, The Crow Hill Company's latest release uses sampling to invent a completely new one. 

“More expressive. More you”: Suno adds voice cloning in its v5.5 updateSuno v5.5 has arrived, with the AI music creation platform touting it as its “best and most expressive model yet”.
Front and centre among the new updates for Suno v5.5 is the addition of Voices, a new feature which enables users to clone their own voice and create new music with it. 
Available on Suno’s Pro and Premier tiers, Voices entails a verification process whereby the singing voice in your live-captured audio is matched to a random phrase Suno asks you to speak, after which you’re free to create.

READ MORE: The Apple Mac Pro – the go-to computer for high-end music production – has been discontinued

Suno emphasises the importance of keeping each user’s uploaded Voice private: “Only you can use them to create new songs,” it says, also sharing future plans to “add voice sharing, but rooted in the principle that you stay in control of what you create”.
“The human voice is the oldest instrument we have,” Suno says. “Before notation, before strings, before drums carved from wood, there was the voice. Every culture on earth has used it to sing, celebrate, and tell stories across generations.
“The voice is the one instrument that every person carries with them, and yet most people never sing or share it with the world. With Suno, you can now capture your voice and create music with it.”
Also new to Suno v5.5 are two new ways aimed at making Suno “feel like yours”: Custom models and My Taste.

Custom Models let you tune the platform to the music you’ve created, meaning when you upload tracks from your original catalogue, it builds a personalised version of the model that knows your style. Similarly, Suno uses My Taste to learn the kind of music you’re drawn to over time, like your favourite genres and moods.
“From the beginning, we’ve built Suno around a simple belief: the best music starts with a human,” Suno explains. 
“Our tools exist to expand what people can create – to amplify the instinct, taste, and feeling that only a person brings to music. v5.5 is our deepest expression of that belief so far, a model that doesn’t just help create music, but fully reflects the person making it.
“This update also reflects something we’re seeing more and more: artists, producers, and music professionals are using Suno as part of their creative process. v5.5 was built with them in mind  because we believe the best version of Suno is one that works for anyone who makes music, from first-time creators to working professionals.
In November, Suno announced it had raised $250 million in its latest funding round, leading to a total valuation of $2.45 billion.
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Suno launches v5.5 AI model with voice capture and personalization featuresThe voice capture feature lets users record or upload audio of themselves singing and incorporating that vocal identity into tracks generated by Suno.
Source

The Crow Hill Company has added 1986, a Prophet-VS-inspired synth plugin, to the FREE Vaults series
1986 is the latest addition to The Crow Hill Company’s Vaults series, and it’s available in AU, VST, VST3, and AAX formats for macOS and Windows. As always, Vaults releases are free to download for six months before moving into the donationware category. At which point, they are available to purchase with a £3 donation, [...]
View post: The Crow Hill Company has added 1986, a Prophet-VS-inspired synth plugin, to the FREE Vaults series

Harrison launch LiveTrax 3 Harrison’s live recording and virtual soundcheck software has just reached its third major version, which among other improvements, delivers direct integration with DiGiCo consoles.

Yamaha Creator Pass brings 21 audio brands under one subscription – including LANDR, Output and GrooverYamaha has launched a new Creator Pass platform that gives musicians and podcasters access to a collection of audio tools under one subscription.
At launch, the Creator Pass is available in 37 countries and regions, spanning across the US, Canada, Europe (30 countries), Australia, Singapore and Japan. There are seven different plan tiers catering to the varying needs of music makers and podcast creators, from beginners to pros.

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More updates will be rolling out in the coming months, but right now users have access to core tools including Output, LANDR, Riverside, and Groover. Pass holders will also be offered special discounts and incentives upon sign-up from un:hurd, RoEx, Linktree, freebeat.ai, SoundCloud, Steinberg, Adobe, Fourthwall, SymphonyOS, Offtop, DISCO, [untitled], Mogul, AudioShake, and DistroKid.
Over the next few months, subscribers will also be able to purchase add-on features from some of these huge brands. The current subscription tiers are: Beginner, Beginner Plus, Beginner Complete, Producer, Producer Plus, Podcaster, and Podcaster Complete.
“We believe that the creative process should feel inspiring and not complicated. With Yamaha Creator Pass, we’re proud to bring trusted music and podcast offerings under one unified platform so that artists and content creators at any level have access to tools that turn concepts into art,” says Yusuke “Scott” Sugino, President and CEO of YMI.
“YMI’s mission is focused on collaborating with startups and established companies shaping the future of music and audio to ensure the most effective solutions for consumers. By developing Yamaha Creator Pass with key best-in-class partners, we aim to empower the next wave of audio innovators and creators and SXSW provides the right stage to bring it to life.”
Prices start at $14.99 per month with seven-day trials available for Beginner and Producer plans, and 14-day free trials available for the Podcaster plan. Beginner Complete and Podcaster Complete are only available in the US for a limited time and do not include free trials. Groover is also not included in the Producer Plus free trial.
Subscribers can choose from monthly or annual billing, and as a limited offer, creators who choose Beginner Complete and Podcaster Complete plans will receive a Yamaha AG01 USB Mic.
YMI will showcase Yamaha Creator Pass at SXSW from 13-15 March through an interactive studio experience. To find out more, head over to Yamaha Creators.
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