Audient introduces the third generation of its iD interface family – here’s what’s newAudient has unveiled its newly overhauled range of iD audio interfaces. Powered by “Analogue Intelligence”, this is the third generation of the iD family of interfaces.
While the iD Range won’t be introducing any new interfaces necessarily, it will allow users to utilise four tried-and-true iD interfaces in one engineering platform, with a few added features for more integrated studio. Each pre-existing interface has also been renamed for ease, with each number reflecting its number of preamps – and, of course, the fact all four are accessible in one shared platform for the first time.
Each of the four iD interfaces has been celebrated in its own right, making this an evolution of some of Audient’s strongest products. From the iD4 (now the iD1), which we praised as a solid 8/10 product, to the iD44 (now the iD4+), which we gave 9/10, the line-up is pretty excellent.

EDITOR’S PICK: If you’re a content creator, this AI-powered microphone might be an excellent addition to your arsenal

The new format makes it easier for a home producer to flick between each product, with each of the four interfaces having its own tailored usage. iD1 comes as a prime interface for solo musicians, with its 2-in/2-out interface with one mic preamp, while iD2 (formerly the iD14) ups the ante a tad, with 10-in/6-out interface and two mic preamps.

If you’re building a more expansive, integrated studio set-up, iD2+ (formerly the iD24) also allows for that. This 10-in/14-out interface boasts two mic preamps. The most advanced interface is iD4+ (formerly the iD44), allowing you to tackle high-channel-count sessions with ease. This interface allows for 20-in/24-out connectivity, with four mic preamps. It’s also able to handle two JFET Instrument Inputs, two balanced hardware inserts and 16 channels of ADAT in and out.
Powered by Audient’s Analogue Intelligence, each of the interfaces has real analogue is at the front of the signal chain, with onboard DSP behind it, setting the levels, correcting the room and running effects. Each preamp is also Audient’s Console Mic Preamps, with 75dB of clean gain and designed to match Audient’s design from the brand’s flagship ASP8024-HE large-format recording console.
There’s also the Analogue Tone Suite, which provides four dedicated tonal shaping tools designed to shape your sound at the source before the signal reaches the DAW. Perks of the iD2+ and iD4+ come in the form of RoomTune. RoomTune in particular requires the RM Reference Microphone, which is sold separately for the iD1 and iD2.
“With the next-gen iD range, we’ve built a range around four things most interfaces in its class can’t offer: real analogue preamps, built-in RoomTune Monitor Correction, onboard DSP FX and a discrete Analogue Tone Suite,” Andrew Allen, Chief Product Officer at Audient, explains. “This isn’t a spec refresh – iD is a completely new technology platform built on our Analogue Intelligence Platform.”
While iD1 wont be available until early 2027, the three over interfaces in the iD MK3 Range are currently available. ID1 will cost £169, while iD2 costs £229, iD2+ costs £329, and iD4+ costs £499. Any non-plus interfaces will require the purchase of an RM1 Reference Microphone to use RoomTune, and the RM1 Reference Microphone costs £39.99.
For more information, head to Audient.
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Soundyan Hyperstellar FXHyperstellar FX is a spectral freeze effect that turns a moment of any sound into an endless, breathing layer. It always listens to the last few seconds of the input. Press FREEZE and the spectral engine holds the sound as a living tail of partials: no loop point, no clicks, no audible repetition. Up to four freeze layers can play at once, each with its own level, pan and DRIFT, fading in and out on their own. Stack them under the dry signal or let them replace it. The ORBIT sequencer freezes and releases the layers one after another in time with the host: in rounds, as a one-shot build-up, or triggered by your playing. A single phrase grows into a slowly turning harmony. The frozen sound never stands still. The SPECTRAL controls (BEATS, AMP, SPARKLE, SNAP, DARKEN, STRETCH) keep the partials moving, and per-layer filters shape each layer before and after the freeze. The signal then runs through AQUA, an underwater wobble modelled on the water moving inside a waterphone, a tone-shaped delay, a shimmer reverb with its own pitch, voices, band, chorus and climb controls, and a look-ahead limiter. 4 LFOs, 4 drawable envelopes, input level and pitch followers and a mod matrix can modulate any knob, including its range. Every knob can be MIDI-learned from a CC and every FREEZE button from a CC or a note, so the layers can be played from a foot controller or a keyboard. Hyperstellar FX was created by Sławek Janus of Soundyan, a maker of handcrafted waterphones, originally for his own acoustic instruments. It works great on anything that comes into the plugin: guitar, voice, synths, field recordings. Features. - Spectral freeze with phase-locked resynthesis: an endless tail without loop points - 4 freeze layers with LEVEL, PAN, DRIFT, MUTE and SOLO; LAYER or REPLACE mode; adjustable fade - ORBIT freeze sequencer: ROUND, ONE SHOT, TRIGGER, ONSET and NEW NOTE modes, 4 bars to 1/4 at host tempo, dotted values too - SPECTRAL effects on the frozen partials: BEATS, AMP, SPARKLE, SNAP, DARKEN, STRETCH - Per-layer filters before and after each freeze - AQUA underwater effect, delay, shimmer reverb (pitch, voices, band, chorus, climb), look-ahead limiter - 4 LFOs, 4 drawable envelopes, input level and pitch followers, mod matrix, range modulation - MIDI Learn for every knob and FREEZE button; program change loads presets - Saved freezes: keep single layers or whole sets as 24-bit FLAC files and recall them later, on any computer - DAW session modes: frozen layers saved with the project, or FOLLOW DAW for repeatable playback and bounces - 46 factory presets in 6 categories; user categories, favourites, A/B, undo; SPILLOVER or MORPH preset change - COMPACT view with just the four freeze buttons - Mono and stereo; input mode for mono sources on one channel - 5 ms latency (limiter look-ahead), reported to the host. System requirements. macOS 10.13 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel (AU, VST3, Standalone) Windows 64-bit (VST3, Standalone) Internet connection for online activation (offline activation available). Read More

Highlights, concerns, and trends from Game Sound Con 2026The annual GameSoundCon celebrated its 18th year in October, welcoming video game composers, sound designers, and other industry professionals to Los Angeles for two days of panels, workshops, and networking.
Major developers such as Valve and Insomniac Games conducted informative sessions, while lauded composers including Inon Zur (Fallout), Garry Schyman (BioShock), and Jesper Kyd (Assassin’s Creed) shared their experience creating iconic themes. There were also plenty of product updates and demonstrations from Unreal Engine, Wwise, and more.
Editor’s pick: Meet the producers releasing albums on retro gaming consoles
MusicTech attended the event to see how music and audio are growing alongside the video game market, which is now worth over $200 billion.
The concern: AI
AI was discussed in depth at GameSoundCon, and, like everyone else, the game audio industry is still finding its feet.
Roc Lee, senior sound designer at Clean Cuts Interactive, led a comprehensive session entitled ‘A Frank Discussion About AI for Sound Designers: Different Work, Not Less Work.’
In 30 minutes, he discussed similar points throughout history, detailing fears about new technology and how those fears played out. One example is Socrates’ fears that writing would disempower memory, but we know he said that because Plato wrote it down. Another example was when 22,000 theatre musicians lost their jobs after movies got their own soundtracks. But that created recording jobs for those same musicians, not to mention sound design work for films.
Lee also shared his own experiences, which were equally dichotomous. He admitted he was “afraid” of being left behind by AI, so he used it to build several tools himself. They included applications for running sound and music cues live, a REAPER similarity search, and some audio plugins. In that process, he found that AI made him feel more creative.
Malleant at Game Sound Con. Image: Game Sound Con
On the recorded music side, a primary concern at the moment is royalties. How are artists going to be paid for their work as major labels sign licensing deals with billion-dollar generative AI companies and use their catalogues to train generative AI? According to Lee, games didn’t have the same types of concerns just yet.
“Games have always been the Wild West,” he told me after his presentation was over. The key difference between recorded music and game composition is scale. One text-based prompt can make a pop song, but gaming soundtracks can require as much as five hours of music, with pieces that adhere to different scenarios. Some tracks loop in sections as players explore; others are triggered by certain actions. Even if someone wanted to use generative AI to create an entire game score, it would have to be fine-tuned and double-checked significantly, leading, once again, to different work — not less work.
“Game composers are some of the most vocal against generative AI, but the market is bifurcated,” Lee says. “You have AAA people who don’t want AI to make games at all. But there is a whole culture of people wanting to make indie games or hobbyists making AI games, and they don’t care.”
For a look inside how a AAA studio is thinking about AI, members of Valve’s audio team presented a similar thought process. They already had everything they needed to make what are widely considered some of the greatest games of all time. So, AI is not necessary, but they don’t want to hold anything back when it comes to innovation.
“We have never been the best because we get shit done fast,” says Mike Morasky, lead composer, musician, and technical director at Valve.
The trend: The flatter, the better
Two of Valve’s presentations were essentially open Q&As about what it’s like to work at the company. During both, Morasky emphasised the company’s flat structure, which is best explained by the headline of the “People” section on their website: “Boss-free since 1996.”
Technically, everyone has an equal say at Valve. The culture of seniority comes into play, but all ideas are welcome, and all teams overlap. Morasky mentioned that the audio team could also be part of the level design process, or some other aspect of the game’s creation.
Overall, this comes down to removing friction to get complete a given task in the creation of a video game. All throughout Game Sound Con, different presentations and products centred on this idea.
Left to right: Richard Ludlow, Garry Schyman, Ludvig Forssell, Wilbert Roget II. Image: Game Sound Con
ZW Buckley, who has composed for Keyword 2: Nightfall and designed sounds for Minecraft, gave a presentation about composing adaptive music in DAWs rather than standard middleware. When he inquired, “How many composers would never touch middleware again if they didn’t have to?” numerous hands shot up.
Middleware is addressing this dynamic as well. Wwise had a very strong presence at Game Sound Con that included a dedicated conference room as well as a booth on the product floor where Mike Drummelsmith, head of licensing at Audiokinetic (Wwise’s parent company), talked about the new features they were advertising:
“The biggest ones are a reorientation of the differences between sound and music,” Drummelsmith says. “For years we’ve had a sound system and a music system, and they were separated for good reasons, but they also had unique feature sets for themselves. That led ot a lot of teams doing sound stuff in the music system because they could get timing and rhythm. Now we’re bringing music features to sound and sound features to music. It’ll make it so teams don’t have to do the workaround.”
The Unreal Engine team had a booth across the floor from Wwise, where they were promoting their product’s ability to create music without middleware. It wasn’t new, but it was gaining more attention.
“It has a lot of benefits to how you work on a larger team with a lot of different disciplines all together on the same project,” says Seth Weedin, director of technical audio at Epic Games (Epic Games is Unreal Engine’s parent company). “Boundaries between disciplines are getting blurrier and blurrier. Everybody’s encouraged to experiment. Having it all in one spot makes that easier.”
Left to right: Rob Pearsall, Michael Salvatori, Lauren Brake, Brendon Williams, Ed Lima. Image: Game Sound Con
Interesting Insights:
Here are some tidbits of knowledge the speakers shared that current and prospective game sound workers can take into account.
Battlefield 6 still used 24 bit recording alongside 32-bit for all the practical recordings of weapons and vehicles. Jeff Wilson, studio audio director at EA Ripple Effect Studios, called 24-bit a “lost art form,” as he works with younger professionals. But there is an interesting perspective on this idea regarding genre. Recording quality has character to it. Perhaps a war game that takes place in WWII or a fantasy RPG would make more sense to use 24-bit to create a more historic feeling, while 32-bit is ideal for the next futuristic thriller.
Andrew Powell, a lecturer in music theory and skills at Auburn University, gave a fascinating presentation on how music is adapted for remakes, noting that when Ballistic Moon commissioned a completely new score for the 2024 remake of Until Dawn, the fans revolted and the game was a commercial failure. Powell compared this to the remake of Star Fox 64 that came out for Nintendo Switch 2 earlier this year. Polygon called the music the “best thing” about it, but the score was largely identical to the Nintendo 64 version except it was re-recorded with a full orchestra at Abbey Road.
The biggest change was during the game’s finale. Instead of using the action-packed music from the original, the remake swapped it for something more haunting and cinematic. The fans noticed, and debated the efficacy.
In short, fans are just as connected to the music as any other element in a game.
Video games are not immune to shifts in the broader audio and music markets. But as technology aims to simplify, there is still much room for people to exercise their creativity and expertise to the benefit of the player experience. Because players still notice and care.
Learn more at gamesoundcon.com
Keep reading

Editor’s Pick: “Don’t turn the music into the wallpaper in a kid’s bedroom”: Two video game soundtrackers on crafting music that players actually hear

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Hey, @letthe ✌ 15 years ago the debut single of "Chris Slanton - But I Cannot Lose You" which we co-produced, co-wrote, arranged, I mixed music for in the Life Cycle #production team, firstly got a #Release and it was very promising. The track still sounds modern and there is an #indie #Music #Video btw, you guys @Articode and @miklek made this too 💫 https://publme.lnk.to/ButICannotLoseYou

Sonic Days 2026 Sonic College have announced that their annual Sonic Days conference is set to return to Kolding, Denmark for the fifth year.

AnalogX launch Genesis Genesis is powered by GPU Audio Soundcore Technology, and offloads intensive processing to the user’s graphics card, allowing them to load any AnalogX Neural Expansion Pack or NAM A2 models without taxing their CPU.

A Game Engine For MicrocontrollersIf you wanted to make a game that ran on a commodity microcontroller, you could be forgiven for not knowing where to start. Never fear, for [Fedyfausto] has just the setup to help you in your quest. (Assisted by whatever LLM helped him write all that code, that is.)
It’s called Jet Studio, and it’s an open-source game editor that looks and works like Godot. In reality, it’s a Godot app with a C++ GDExtension, and it’s for making games that run on an Arduino Nano ESP32 or an STM32F746. Specifically, it’s intended for use with the commonly-available ILI9341 SPI LCD display.
The engine can be used for both 2D and 3D games with a handy level of performance. [Fedyfausto] notes that a 2D shooter runs at 62 FPS on the Nano ESP32 and 83 FPS on the STM32. Other fun demos include a partially-3D Outrun-style game, and a 3D physics simulation. They show just what the engine can do, and from there, it’s really up to your creativity for what you choose to make with it.
We see all kinds of games ported to the microcontroller world these days; you can even run Metal Gear Solid on an ESP32 if you really feel like it. What a world we live in. Video after the break.

One giant leap for synthkind: Analogue Solutions launches the Series 700, a £33,000 recreation of the Roland System 700British synth builder Analogue Solutions has launched the Series 700, a recreation of Roland’s rarely-seen System 700. A full six-block system doesn’t come cheap though, priced at a princely £33,000…
Built to the original spec
Analogue Solutions says it set out to match the mid-1970s design as closely as possible. Almost every circuit has been reproduced from the original schematics, with changes only where components are no longer available. The company has also resisted altering the feature set, with one exception: a basic single-channel MIDI-to-CV converter, added mainly to sync the 3 x 12-step analogue CV sequencer to MIDI.
The look and feel follow the original design, too. Analogue Solutions has used custom-made knobs, including dual-concentric fine/coarse tune controls for the VCO waveforms, as well as custom slider caps, switches and potentiometers. The cabinets are Tolex-wrapped wood with strap carry handles and blue-lined lids. Block one keeps the letterbox-style slot for cables or manuals.

Each block matches the dimensions of its Roland counterpart: Block one measures 860 x 560 mm, Block three measures 860 x 362 mm and Blocks four, five, six and seven: 460 x 362 mm each. All blocks are 310 mm deep with the lid on (255 mm without)
Each block’s configuration is fixed because of internal patching. Analogue Solutions doesn’t currently plan to sell individual modules for use in an original System 700, though it notes the panels are the same size as Roland’s and that a different power connector would be needed.
What’s in each block

Block one, is the largest housing three voltage controlled oscillators, a noise generator/ring modulator, two voltage controlled amplifiers, a reverb/panning/phase shifter section with VU meters, two LFOs, sample & hold, a dual envelope generator and a three-channel mixer.
Block three is the 717A analogue sequencer and master controller. Block four adds six more oscillators, while block five offers further filters, three voltage controlled amplifiers and a gate delay. Block six is an interface/mixer with a multicode filter section and Block seven contains an analogue switch, two-channel audio delay and a two-channel phase shifter.
You may be questioning where block two is… This is the 701 keyboard controller, which Analogue Solutions is developing separately as an optional upgrade. Based on Roland’s 701A 61-key controller, it is planned to add four-CV-channel polyphony, velocity CV output, MIDI in/out and minijack connections for Eurorack, other modular synths and vintage mono-synths.
Why it matters

The system 700 was the most expensive synth Roland ever made, costing more than the company’s Jupiter-8. Complete systems are scarce and second-hand examples can fetch over £150,000. The System 700 is perhaps best known for its part in The Human League’s 1981 album Dare, with producer Martin Rushent’s Genetic Sound studio unit credited in the original sleeve notes.
Because the Series 700 so closely mirrors the original, Analogue Solutions will not write a full manual. Instead, it will upload the original System 700 manual alongside a supplementary guide covering the differences.
Pricing and availability
Pre-orders are now open for the Series 700, with the full unit priced at £33,000. Buyers can alternately pre-order individual blocks, or combinations of them, directly from the company. Block one, the main console costs £13,000; block three, the analogue sequencer costs £6,000; block four, the VCO Bank costs £7,000; block five, the VCF/VCA bank costs £6,000; block six, the interface/mixer costs £3,000 and block seven, the phase shifter/audio delay costs £4,000.
A deposit is required to secure a placement in the build queue. Analogue solutions will send payment details, an approximate build time and a shipping cost after the order is placed. Wait times depend on the size of the order and queue position.
Learn more at Analogue Solutions.
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AES Show 2026: Nashville The new and re-energised AES Show brings together audio professionals from a wide range of fields, as well as welcoming musicians, songwriters, students and educators.

This new plugin lets you mix your music in 3DArt DSP has released Canvas 2.0, a visual mixing plugin that allows producers to shape their mixes by positioning audio sources in a virtual three-dimensional space. Available now for macOS and Windows, the plugin represents each track as a movable object, with its position within the virtual room reflecting its panning, frequency content and volume.
Canvas is designed to give producers a visual overview of their entire mix. By placing the plugin on individual tracks, users can see each audio source as a “blob” in a virtual room and adjust the mix accordingly by moving these objects.

READ MORE: Massive XL: Native Instruments’ next-gen flagship soft synth has arrived – here’s everything you need to know

The plugin maps stereo positioning from left to right, frequency content vertically and volume along the forward-backward axis. Producers can therefore make adjustments directly within the 3D environment, rather than relying exclusively on traditional mixer controls.

Canvas also includes spectral sidechaining, allowing users to create space between competing tracks, alongside a built-in EQ editor for more precise tonal adjustments. Reverb can be added within the plugin or brought in from external effects, with its contribution also represented visually in the room.
The software additionally includes mixing templates that can process an entire track in a single click.
Pricing and availability
Canvas is available now through Art DSP’s website priced at $79 or $16.50 per month over six months through a rent-to-own option. A fully functional 14-day free trial is also available.
A single licence covers up to three computers and includes all future updates.
Canvas 2.0 is available in VST3 and AAX formats on macOS and Windows, alongside AU on macOS.
Learn more at Art DSP.
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FL Studio announces FL Studio Mobile 5 update, bringing a library of over two million samples to your pocketTen years ago, FL Studio went mobile, porting the power of the iconic DAW into a game-changing phone app. In that time, FL Studio Mobile has become a staple production tool, allowing musicians to edit and produce on the go – however, there has been the caveat of not being able to access FL’s Cloud Sounds sample library. But that changes today.
While FL Studio’s extensive FL Cloud Sounds library has previously been exclusive to desktop, FL Studio Mobile 5 finally bridges the gap. The update finally connects both free FL Mobile users and FL Cloud subscribers with the library’s massive collection; if you’re on a free plan, thousands of sounds will now be at your fingertips, while paid subscribers can take advantage of the library’s over two million royalty-free sounds and samples.

READ MORE: Why festivals are booking hi-fi sound systems on their lineups

But don’t worry – it’s not going to take up loads of space on your phone. Users can browse through sounds (with the added bonus of searching by genre, using tags, or curated collections) and listen to samples in high-quality on the cloud. Only sounds you choose to include in your tracks will be properly downloaded.
The massive update also introduces a new ‘portrait mode’, allowing users to edit vertically for the first time. And the update is totally free, even for those on a paid plan, as per FL Studio’s ‘Lifetime Free Updates’ promise to your device.
There are also a slew of quality updates across the board. This includes improved mouse and keyboard support, like adding the ability to stop and start a sample by hitting the spacebar, as well as added keyboard shortcuts. You can also now burn notes onto your track, allowing you to toy with real, editable notes on a select track.

“Ten years ago, we put a full music studio in people’s pockets,” Constantin Koehncke, CEO of Image-Line, explains. “With Version 5, we’re taking another big step by bringing FL Cloud sounds to mobile.”
“Thousands of sounds are now available for free to every FL Studio Mobile user, making it easier than ever to get started and make music wherever you are. And with portrait mode, one of our most requested features, we’re delivering something our community has been asking for for a long time.”
New users can also start a free FL Cloud trial, while FL Cloud Plus costs $99 a year, and the Pro tier costs $149 a year. For more information, head to FL Studio.
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“Do I really believe that at the end, I have a result that justifies the effort?” Inside the strict decision-making process of Ableton founder and Monolake musician Robert HenkeAs one of the founders of Ableton – and a successful solo artist in his own right under the moniker Monolake – German musician and pioneer Robert Henke has to be specific about where he spends his time and effort.
Growing up in a family of engineers and raised in the iconic Berlin club scene, Henke bleeds electronic music, and created Ableton in 1999 alongside current CEO Gerhard Behles and software engineer Bernd Roggendorf.
So as a musician with such a stacked resume, he has learned to scrutinise the decisions he makes when it comes to both building products and music composition.

READ MORE: My Forever Studio: Robert Henke’s forever DAW isn’t a DAW

“There is a quality in the decision-making process that is involved here,” he tells MusicTech in the latest episode of the My Forever Studio podcast.
“Every decision for something is a massive decision against a lot of other options because it takes time to build stuff. And that means I scrutinise my ideas a lot before I start building.
“I have a whole notebook full of ideas and sketches of things, but only a tiny fraction of those things I finally decide to throw my energy on, and that means I think a lot about, ‘Does this specific thing I’m attempting to do really help me? Do I really believe that at the end, I have a result that justifies the effort?’”
Elsewhere in the episode, Robert Henke takes us through his creative process when it comes to making his own sample packs, and goes deep on his love for expressive hardware and his fascination with sound technology.
MusicTech’s My Forever Studio podcast – created in partnership with Audient – finds artists, producers and engineers designing their fantasy Forever Studio, in which they can select six items with no regard for cost or limitation to build their dream creative environment.
However, hosts Chris Barker and Will Betts impose some strict rules: they must only choose six items for their studio, and must do so wisely. There will be nostalgia. There will be anecdotes. There may be gags. But there will be no bundles!
Subscribe to My Forever Studio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and check out all episodes so far via MusicTech.

The post “Do I really believe that at the end, I have a result that justifies the effort?” Inside the strict decision-making process of Ableton founder and Monolake musician Robert Henke appeared first on MusicTech.

fedDSP launch ECO delay plug-in The new delay effect from fedDSP combines 12 delay modes with modulation, saturation, ducking and five integrated reverb options.

Akai Pro release MPK Mini Plus II Akai's 37-key MIDI controller gains expanded performance features, deeper MPC integration and CV/Gate connectivity for hardware and modular setups.

Roland launch two new Boutique synths New compact instruments celebrate the JUPITER-8’s 45th anniversary and bring dual-layer wavetable synthesis to the Roland Boutique range.