Universal Audio Teletronix LA-2A Tube Compressor Is FREE Until October 31st!
Universal Audio offersthe Teletronix LA-2A Tube Compressor as a FREE download until October 31st! It’s been a rare period for Universal Audio plugins! First, we had the big flash sale at Plugin Boutique, and now UAD is going one better, with the only thing better than a big sale is giving stuff for FREE! Universal [...]
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Early Indian electronic music found on tapes in a university cupboard released in a compilationA compilation showcasing India’s history of electronic music through the 1960s and ’70s has been released by the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The tapes were recovered from a cupboard at the university in 2017, and released on 29 September as NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969-1972.

READ MORE: Moog CEO “reached out to Uli Behringer” to try and sell company, Behringer claims

In 1969, over 20,000 people came to the university to hear the groundbreaking Moog synthesiser, which was shipped from the US alongside a dual ring modulator, a bode frequency shifter, and tape machines.
The late American composer David Tudor conducted workshops on them, and musician Paul Purgas, who found the lost tapes, was there himself. Once he found the tapes, he reassembled and digitised 19 tracks across 27 tape reels.
He described it as a “victory for good record keeping”, via The New York Times, as he took details from handwritten notes and brought together music made from both the Moog and homemade equipment too.
In the compilation, there are field records, tape collages, soundtracks and other recordings. Purgas describes them as taking on a “dreamlike” quality, showcasing a “perfect, utopian moment of India post-independence”. Among the composers featured are Atul Desai, Jinraj Joshipura, I.S. Mathur, Gita Sarabhai and S.C. Shama.
Meanwhile, it’s set to be accompanied by a book from Purgas, entitled Subcontinental Synthesis: Electronic Music at the National Institute of Design, India 1969–1972. It’s set for release on 7 November, and features essays and handwritten texts from the same period.
You can view the tracklist below:
1. S.C. Sharma – After the War
2. Atul Desai – Compositions
3. S.C. Sharma – Dance Music I
4. Gita Sarabhai – Gitaben’s Composition
5. David Tudor – Tape Feedback with Moog
6. Jinraj Joshipura – Space Liner 2001 I
7. S.C. Sharma – Electronic Sounds Created on Moog
8. S.C. Sharma – Dance Music II
9. I.S. Mathur – My Birds
10. I.S. Mathur – Moogsical Forms
11. Gita Sarabhai – Gitaben’s Composition II
12. I.S. Mathur – Once I Played a Tanpura
13. S.C. Sharma – Electronic Sounds Created on Moog II
14. Atul Desai – Recordings for Osaka Expo 70
15. S.C. Sharma – Wind & Bubbles
16. S.C. Sharma – Dance Music III
17. Jinraj Joshipura – Space Liner 2001 II
18. I.S. Mathur – Shadows of the Show
19. I.S. Mathur – Soundtrack of Shadow Play
The post Early Indian electronic music found on tapes in a university cupboard released in a compilation appeared first on MusicTech.

How To Achieve Tonal Balance In Mixing And Mastering
Getting the right tonal balance is one of the hardest aspects of mixing a piece of music. Tonal Balance in Mixing Balance: the holy grail of life, the secret of not falling over, and the key to great chocolate brownies! In our daily lives, balance is everything. Likewise, a good tonal balance makes an awesome [...]
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Inner Pitch Is A FREE Pitch Shifter By Auburn Sounds (Enter To Win Full Version)
Auburn Sounds released Inner Pitch, a pitch shifter plugin for Windows and macOS, available as a Free Edition (with limited features) and Full Edition. Enter our giveaway to win the Full Edition (three FREE copies available). Let’s take a look at the Free Edition first. Inner Pitch Free Edition Inner Pitch is a pitch-shifting delay [...]
View post: Inner Pitch Is A FREE Pitch Shifter By Auburn Sounds (Enter To Win Full Version)

Songtradr, Epic Games respond to Bandcamp Union concerns [UPDATED]UPDATE: Epic Games has joined Songtradr in responding to a letter from the Bandcamp United union expressing employee concerns after it was announced earlier this week that Epic Games had. Continue reading
The post Songtradr, Epic Games respond to Bandcamp Union concerns [UPDATED] appeared first on Hypebot.

Spotify’s audiobooks move is another brick in the audio wallStreaming has come a long way since its days as a pure music service for super fans. Spotify’s announcement that it is making 15 monthly audiobook hours available to premium subscribers is simply the latest step in a journey that has seen streaming become the 21st century’s take on radio. This has been achieved with the steady addition of non-music content (podcasts and audiobooks especially) and a growing emphasis on programmatic lean back consumption. As with all change, when it sits in an extended period of transformation, its immediate impact is often under-recognised. Audiobooks are the completely natural and logical progression for Spotify (and other DSPs), but they are also another waymarker in the journey away from being a pure play music service.

The pandemic was a catalyst for audiobook consumption. Audiobooks had been around for a long time already, with Audible leading the charge, but it was the sudden increase in non-allocated time that people found themselves with that triggered a coming of age for the format. Listening surged, including of podcasts, but as normal life slowly returned, audiobook consumption dipped again, though to a higher point than pre-pandemic levels. 

In many respects, Audible never really managed to push the format out of its niche foundations, with weekly active user (WAU) penetration still stuck at around 10% (Q1 23). DSPs though, represent the opportunity to mainstream the proposition – something that Deezer identified many years ago by becoming the first DSP to integrate audiobooks. Deezer was, however, probably a little too early, launching audiobooks when streaming was still almost entirely about music and still very lean-forward. Now, streaming is the soundtrack to our everyday lives. It is about filling the silence (or blocking out the noise) more than active listening. In this use case, spoken word audio is just as good a fit as music. In fact, it can often be a better fit. For example, getting lost in the narrative of an audiobook can make a daily commute fly by a lot quicker than simply listening to a playlist, in large part because it commands your attention.

Spot the important shift there? Audiobooks can turn passive listening into active listening in a way that music cannot so easily do. Music carved out hours for streaming by being passive, and now audiobooks and podcasts can colonise those hours with active consumption. The more active usage becomes, the more engaged a user is and the less likely they are to churn. Music did the hard yards; audio reaps the rewards.

Music rightsholders have long been concerned about audio eating into listening hours, less because of the cannibalisation of hours and more so because of the risk of DSPs using that as a basis for negotiating down the share of the subscription fee that gets paid to them. 15 hours of audiobooks may not sound like a lot but it represents close to 40% of the monthly music listening hours of the average subscriber. There is a good chance that there will be strong uptake, not least because over half of audiobook WAUs are also Spotify WAUs (which will probably give Audible pause for thought).

Of course, from Spotify’s perspective at least, the benefit of reducing music rightsholder fees simply to replace them with book publisher fees would be self-defeating. That is unless Spotify can secure the latter for less. But there is another crucial variable at play: original content. Back in 2020, when Spotify was hiring its head of audiobooks, the job description included the following: “Develop, pitch and oversee production of high-quality content”.  Just as with podcasts, audiobooks represent an opportunity for Spotify to develop original content and improve its margins.

Monster Toys Is A FREE Toy Instrument Plugin By MonsterDAW
MonsterDAW releases Monster Toys, a FREE toy instrument plugin for macOS and Windows. MonsterDAW is the brand behind previous releases like Monster Synth, Monster Strings, and generally, all things monster-related around here. Agus Hardiman is the mastermind behind MonsterDAW, and it’s fair to say that his latest development is his most serious work to date. [...]
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Spotify prompt-driven AI playlists risk devaluing many artists, genresSpotify is testing AI-generated playlists based on custom prompts. The streamer successfully launched its AI-powered DJ feature last year. Code pointing to prompt-driven AI playlists was discovered within the Spotify. Continue reading
The post Spotify prompt-driven AI playlists risk devaluing many artists, genres appeared first on Hypebot.

Tokenization is “securitization done on steroids" — Franklin Templeton CEOSpeaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha event, Jenny Johnson discussed how digital assets are disrupting securitization and the financial markets.

Songtradr acquires Bandcamp from Fortnite maker Epic GamesNews arrives a year and a half after Epic Games acquired Bandcamp
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Ray-Ban launches Meta Smart Glasses collectionRay-Ban has launched a next-generation collection of smart glasses with Meta Connect, in partnership with EssilorLuxottica.
The new collection builds on the company’s first generation of smart eyewear, with a new design boasting improved features, and, for the first time, also having AI capabilities that have never been used on smart glasses before.

READ MORE: The Roland GAIA 2 has landed – featuring a new hybrid sound engine that combines wavetable and virtual analogue synthesis

The new Ray-Ban glasses enable users to take photos or videos handsfree, and can be even used for livestreams. They also use open-ear audio with new custom designed speakers featuring extended bass, a higher maximum volume and improved directional audio to reduce audio leakage, even in noisy or windy environments. The new-gen glasses have the capacity for double the bass and 50 per cent higher maximum volume than the first generation.
Furthermore, they contain five microphones to support immersive audio recording, which means videos taken on the glasses capture sound exactly how someone wearing them might hear them.
Meanwhile, a new ultra-wide 12MP camera delivers better photo quality and 1080p videos for up to 60 seconds. In addition, with a simple “send photo” voice command, wearers can send photos immediately to friends and family.
The glasses come with a redesigned charging case which holds up to eight charges for a total of 36 hours of use. They are also prescription-lens compatible and more prescription lens options have been made available to meet a variety of customer needs and price points.
In addition, the new design is lighter and slimmer than ever, with a more universal nose fit and water-resistant capabilities.
They will be available to buy from October 17 and are priced at £249.
For more information, head to Ray-Ban.
The post Ray-Ban launches Meta Smart Glasses collection appeared first on MusicTech.

Electric Keys Is A FREE Rhodes Piano For Kontakt Player
Fracture Sounds release Electric Keys, a FREE Rhodes Mk1 library for Kontakt Player. Electric Keys is the first release by Fracture Sounds from the Blueprint series, a collection of free sample libraries for Kontakt Player. It is one of the better free libraries for Kontakt we’ve seen in recent times. It’s always great to see [...]
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Serato DJ Pro 3.1 Beta expands Stems Performance Pad ModeSerato has expanded its stem separation feature in Serato DJ Pro as part of its 3.1 update, which you can now install in its Beta stage.

READ MORE: InMusic protest Serato sale to Pioneer DJ in New Zealand newspaper advert

The update to the flagship software primarily focuses on bug fixes, but has a few exciting additions.
Most notably, the update expands the Stems Performance Pad Mode, enabling users to isolate stems like vocals, drums, and bass from mixed tracks using official Serato controllers.
Previously, this feature was only accessible on specific dedicated DJ controllers and standalone controllers, like the Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX4 or RANE ONE. With the new Serato DJ Pro 3.1 beta, Stems Performance Pad Mode is available on popular Serato controllers such as Pioneer DJ’s SP1, Denon DJ S6000, CDJ-2000nxs2, and CDJ-3000 models.
This means you can have a dedicated controller for stems while using traditional HID mode for mixing, giving more tools for seamless mixing to DJs.
Additionally, Serato DJ Pro 3.1 beta includes stability and performance enhancements, minor GUI updates, and improved keylock detection algorithms for Pitch ‘n’ Time when scratching on a motorized platter.
Serato Stems lets you isolate instruments from your music in real time, letting you pick apart the melody, vocals, bass, drums, vocals. It’s a feature that was introduced as part of the Serato DJ Pro 3.0 launch in October 2022. in
Alongside stem separation, it also provides accompanying stem-specific effects – vocal echo, instrumental echo, instrumental braker and drums echo which can help DJs transition between isolated stems in the moment.
Serato, alongside its flagship DJ software, has released a multitude of tools over the years built to help both DJ and producers. UK dance duo Disclosure recently revealed that plugin and standalone tool Serato Sample played a vital role in the creation of their track, Simply Won’t Do.
Serato Sample is designed for slicing and reshaping imported audio. It provides time stretching, pitch identification and adjustment, as well as automatic sample detection. It also utilises a user-friendly cue-point system reminiscent of Serato DJ.
Download the latest version of Serato DJ Pro via serato.com.
The post Serato DJ Pro 3.1 Beta expands Stems Performance Pad Mode appeared first on MusicTech.

The Loog Piano is a portable, simplified digital piano for beginnersLoog, a brand that specialises in creating small and simplified instruments for young musicians, has launched a digital piano, the Loog Piano, on Kickstarter.

READ MORE: Beginner’s Guide: Buying your first vintage drum machine second-hand

Sporting a stripped-back, colourful design that’s supposed to be both easy to learn on and inviting to play, the Loog Piano acts as a portable solution for new piano players of all ages, says the brand.

The Loog Piano has full-sized velocity-sensitive keys, built-in speakers, a built-in rechargeable battery. It also has a keen focus on making learning the piano accessible and enjoyable by teaching beginners to play via handy flashcards.
In terms of design, the Loog Piano has certainly got a quirky look and feel to it compared to conventional pianos. It’s a small, compact unit and features a bright red fabric top, wooden volume knob, and responsibly sourced wood for the case.
When it comes to sound quality, the example video doesn’t fully reflect this due to it being captured via the camera’s mic. What we do know, however, is that there is just one style of sound available – Piano – and it has been achieved through sampling and modelling, focusing on “attack, decay, and air in between notes.”
Image supplied by Loog
According to Loog, the Loog Piano also has “piano dynamics” to replicate soft and loud piano sounds. It is, however, missing a sustain pedal input.
Someone who doesn’t need the Loog piano to learn how to play the instrument for the first time is Jordan Rudess. MusicTech were able to sit down with the keyboard and piano player as part of our My Forever Studio podcast in April.
In it, he tells listeners about a ‘Brian Eno trick’ he and Tony Visconti implemented when playing the piano part for David Bowie’s track, Slip Away. This involves using two pianos, one upright and one baby grand, placed close together. The sustain pedal on the upright piano is taped down, and the mics are positioned against the open upright piano to capture its resonance while playing the baby grand, creating a unique sound layer. This technique was used by David Bowie and Tony Visconti during a recording session.
The Loog Piano is priced at $229 for early bird backers on Kickstarter. The retail price is $300.
The post The Loog Piano is a portable, simplified digital piano for beginners appeared first on MusicTech.

Waves MetaFilter Is FREE Until September 30th!
Waves Audio and Black Octopus Sound Offer the MetaFilter ($149 list price, $29 sale price) plugin as a FREE download until September 30, 2023. Waves MetaFilter was offered for free in another limited-time deal in March this year, courtesy of ProducerGrind. This time, Waves Audio teamed up with Black Octopus Sound to provide the plugin [...]
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