AI.com flips from ChatGPT to Elon Musk’s X.aiThere was a bit of a hubbub in February as it emerged that OpenAI had seemingly purchased AI.com in order to redirect it to the ChatGPT web interface. But now erstwhile backer, Twitter haver, and X lover Elon Musk appears to have taken the valuable domain off their hands, or else someone has done it for him: AI.com now redirects to X.ai, the billionaire’s embryonic machine learning research outfit.
Of course domains are bought and sold every day. But two-letter .com domains are rare and highly expensive, especially those that form words or familiar abbreviations. When AI.com started redirecting to OpenAI’s site, Mashable pointed out that the domain could hardly have sold for less than IT.com’s $3.8 million the previous year, and likely attained a far higher price given the hype around artificial intelligence in general.
No doubt OpenAI hoped that the purchase of AI.com would turn confused URL bar typers into lifetime users. Or perhaps it intended to eventually move its consumer-facing operations (like ChatGPT’s web client) over to the shorter domain. It seems we’ll never know, because now the domain goes to X.ai.
The news seems to have first been reported by Analytics India Magazine (perhaps a bidder itself at some point), but the truth is outside the transfer, there is precious little to say about the switch. It’s just bizarre and expensive enough to warrant noting here.
X.ai is still a largely notional organization, with a handful of academics and engineers working on, one imagines, whatever Musk tells them to. Its stated goal is “to understand the true nature of the universe,” but they haven’t made any visible progress since the site went up in July. Admittedly Musk has been busy during that time.

Elon Musk wants to build AI to ‘understand the true nature of the universe’

What could it mean? Did Sam Altman tire of his toy? Was the plan to shift to the new domain scrapped in favor of a new one? Was the sale tentative to begin with, or perhaps a month-to-month lease? Was there a bidding war, or did someone lose interest?
Whatever the case, it ends up just feeling like a couple rich guys squabbling over a shiny object. ChatGPT is the most recognizable brand in AI — so why pay millions to start a new one from scratch? And X.ai is already short and memorable (or at least it will be until there are 8 other Musk companies called X), and there’s nothing worth looking at on the site, so why pay so much to redirect another empty site? It’s worth noting that OpenAI never did actually confirm it bought the domain, and Musk has not yet, and would never return our emails.
Logo from a recent staging site for AI.com
I will say that if I had $10 million and the opportunity to buy AI.com, you know what I would do? Redirect it to the obvious candidate and then dangle it in front of their competitors for a 50% markup. If that didn’t work, I’d switch it to the rival and offer it to the first company. Here’s hoping some information superhighwayman (if you will) had the same brainwave and squeezed one of these billionaires for a solid payday. If so, well played.
I suspect that ultimately no one actually cares who owns AI.com, and people in fact may be suspicious of whatever corporate entity controls what is obviously a vanity domain. Let’s all just agree not to use it. That will teach everyone a lesson.

Age of AI: Everything you need to know about artificial intelligence

Songwriters are using AI Generated voices for song pitchesSome may see it as cheating while others find it genius, however no matter what you think AI will not be stopped by creating new strides for music professionals. by. Continue reading
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Best free plugins and freeware of the month: August 2023It’s always nice when you uncover some useful or creative tools online – and it’s even nicer when they turn out to be free.

READ MORE: Best sample packs of the month

We’ve rounded up a handful of this month’s free releases for you to check out, including a chord-based ROMpler, a transparent limiter, a fully-featured spatial 3D instrument, an epic, endless reverb, and a fun sample chopping sequencer.
Monster DAW – MONSTER OctaChord v1
MONSTER OctaChord v1. Image: Monster DAW

macOS and Windows
64-bit VST/VST3/AU
Download OctaChord

If you’re looking for some inspiration to get you started, then Monster DAW’s chord plugin with built in sounds could be just the ticket. There are 18 presets for different styles including lo-fi, techno, cinematic, R‘n’B, pop and more.
Each preset includes a full set of 12 scales, plus an Ornament set of fill-ins, melodic lines and sound effects that match the chords. Additional features include master volume, pan, reverb and delay controls, plus separate volume controls for the chord and ornament sections. It’s easy to build up progressions, but with so many different sounds and chord samples, note that the full plugin library size is over 6GB.
Press Play – Wave Breaker
Wave Breaker. Image: Press Play

macOS and Windows
64-bit VST/VST3/AU
Download Wave Breaker

Press Play is best known for its excellent free oscilloscope plugin, Wave Observer. Its new release uses the same waveform display engine, but this time puts it to use as instant visual feedback within a true-peak stereo limiter plugin.
Wave Breaker offers a transparent sound with precise true-peak detection, look-ahead audio analysis and 4x oversampling. You can use the Drive control to push volume into the limiter at a desired threshold and choose from manual output compensation, or target peak-level normalisation. You can also add a touch of saturation, choose from a range of colour schemes and resize the GUI.
SpatStrument SM24
SpatStrument SM24. Image: Acousmodules

macOS and Windows
64-bit VST3
Download SpatStrument SM24

SpatStrument SM24 is a beast. It’s an effect, a synth, a sampler, a 3D panner and a controller all in one. It’s designed to offer a fun and playful approach to audio-spatial sculpting, especially if you have an MPE controller.
Its whopping feature set includes up to 24 output channels with free arrangement in 2D or 3D space, Periphonic and Volumetric Spatial modes, Spatial Shaper and Animator, live input processing, an eight-voice sampler, a three-oscillator synth with FM, cross modulation and ring modulation between the sampler and synth, eight-channel delay/resonator and hall reverb, lockTrigger and VeloPad for granular effects and more.
Airwindows – Galactic 2
Galactic 2. Image: Airwindows

macOS, Windows, Linux, Pi
32/64-bit VST/AU/VCV Rack
Download Galactic 2

Airwindows has built up a massive library of excellent free plugins over the years, with an emphasis on sound rather than snazzy GUIs. Its latest release is a massive-sounding reverb that gives a different twist on Airwindows’ first Galactic reverb plugin.
You get simple controls for drive, sustain, Darken and wet, which can all be manipulated to craft epic-sounding, infinite drones and pads. With sustain on full, it will even start to feedback on itself. You can also put in mono signals and get a wider-sounding stereo reverb out.
HY-Plugins – HY-Slicer2 free
HY Slicer2. Image: HY-Plugins
This cut-down version of HY-Slicer2 can be used as a fun and creative way to re-invigorate your loop library. You get 3 slicer units where you can load three different samples that get chopped into smaller pieces. These can then be sequenced in the Sampler Track where you can rearrange up to 16 slices.
Things get a little more interesting when you start using the additional lanes that let you sequence things like chance, reverse, tune, pan, filter, effect sends and more. You also get built-in effects and master effects to refine your new loops, and a Pattern chainer to help develop longer ideas.

macOS, Windows, Linux
64-bit VST/VST3/AU
Download HY-Slicer2 free

The post Best free plugins and freeware of the month: August 2023 appeared first on MusicTech.

What does AI mean for music producers?
Music technology journalist Declan McGlynn discusses the potential implications of AI in music, how creators can apply it to their creative processes, and more.

Aphex Twin shares two archival tracks via ‘secret’ Soundcloud accountTwo previously unheard tracks have been uploaded to SoundCloud by user18081971, an account widely believed to belong to electronic producer-DJ, Aphex Twin.

READ MORE: Georgia on feeling “liberated” working with Rostam and Dave Fridmann on new album Euphoric: “I was very open-minded; I wanted to learn everything”

Per their descriptions, the new tracks — titled Short Forgotten Produk Trk Omc and 2nd Neotek Test Trac Omc — were recorded approximately between 2006 and 2007. The latter also features the use of a Kawai K5M, an additive synthesizer from 1987.
Since 2015, the anonymous account, user18081971, has been connected to Aphex Twin, sharing dozens of unreleased tracks over the last eight years. In 2020, the artist surprised fans by dropping a series of new tracks on the same account within a week.
Meanwhile, Aphex Twin has recently released a new EP titled Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / In a Room7 F760. The four-track record marks the musician’s first official release in five years, following his 2018 EP, Collapse.
In related news, Aphex Twin, who last month performed at Barcelona’s Sonar 2023, is also set to headline Field Day in London this August.
Listen to the new tracks, Short Forgotten Produk Trk Omc and 2nd Neotek Test Trac Omc, below.

The post Aphex Twin shares two archival tracks via ‘secret’ Soundcloud account appeared first on MusicTech.

US crypto bills on the move, Worldcoin launches and Russia’s CBDC: Hodler’s Digest, July 23-29Crypto legislation goes to the House floor in the U.S., Worldcoin’s controversial launch and Russia’s digital ruble signed into law.

DECAP (DaBaby, Eminem) makes a beat from scratch
Multi-platinum producer DECAP sat down with us to showcase how he makes a beat from scratch in Ableton Live.

Angry Mob Presents New Normal Writing Camp, Announces Upcoming CampsThe New Normal Writing Camp presented by Angry Mob Music Group took place over five days (June 26-30) in Downtown Los Angeles and featured 30+ talented artists/writers/producers from 10+ different cultural backgrounds. In addition, out of those in attendance, 50% of them were women producers and 70% were female writers/artists. 

The New Normal Writing Camp, founded by Ralph Torrefranca (Filipino-American Senior Director of A&R, Angry Mob), was created to bring our songwriting community together and lift each other up in an industry where underrepresented voices are often held back due to the old ways of thinking. The New Normal is a writing camp that encourages diversity and champions the melting pot of cultural backgrounds, which brings a unique and universally relatable perspective into the music world.

“Artists in residence” included UMI (RCA), YDE (Warner/Facethouse), Paravi (RCA), Deb Never (Moon Landing), Maris (Black House), Tempest (Arista/Sony), and Chandler Leighton; Our producers included MNDR (Mark Ronson, Charlie XCX), Chong The Nomad (21 Savage, Shang-Chi), Ali Stone, V-RON (Alicia Keys, Ambre), Joe Pepe (Iann Dior, Sam Short), Verskotzi (Prinze George, Sam Drysdale), Bus (Ty Dolla $ign, Brent Faiyaz) and Dominique Sanders (Tech9, Dr. Dre); and our writers/artists included Bailey Bryan, Sayak Das, Kiana V, Brooke Daye, Rose Tan, LeyeT, Galxara, Taylor Foley, Chloe Tang, Sad Alex, Floyd Fuji, Mori Einsidler, Gray Trainer, Dan Richards and Louis Castle.

The New Normal is proudly sponsored by BMI, Topo Chico, Shure, JHS Pedals, Izotope, Native Instruments, and Spitfire Audio, who all support the message and purpose behind what the camp aims to change in the industry. For more pictures, visit The New Normal Songwriting Camp's Instagram. Angry Mob Music is also planning to have another New Normal Writing Camp in Los Angeles, CA during the fall of 2023, followed by one in Nashville, TN in 2024. 

Daft Punk’s Guy-Man credited as producer on Travis Scott’s UtopiaRapper Travis Scott has finally released his long-awaited album, Utopia, and to the surprise of Daft Punk fans, one song on it was produced by Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo, AKA Guy-Man of the iconic French dance duo.

READ MORE: Beatport.io launch digital collectable series about Berlin’s techno scene

The album is filled to the brim with producer collabs from James Blake to Beyonce, SZA and even the controversial Kanye West.
However, the third track on the album, MODERN JAM, is where Guy-Man’s production skills really come to light. You can even hear Scott refer to Guy-Man at one point with the lyrics “Hey, Guy-Man, brought him home from France”.

Unsurprisingly, it is certainly one of the more electronic-sounding tracks on the album and has Scott rapping over the top of a looped beat that develops throughout the song.
Fans in the comments have praised Scott and Guy-Man’s production skills on the track, with many even claiming how old-school it sounds.
“I’m feeling this 90s type beat. I need a music video on this that has a 90s theme. Travis killed it,” writes one listener.
“This is going to go nuts in the club. Brought an old-school vibe. 80s type shit,” wrote another.
In more Utopia-related news, Travis Scott’s Utopia launch concert and livestream from Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza has officially been cancelled due to safety concerns. The Egyptian Musicians Syndicate announced that there were also issues with the “peculiar rituals performed by the star during his performance, contradicting our authentic societal values and traditions.”
The concert was set to take place tonight (28 July), and all ticket holders are being issued refunds via Live Nation Middle East.
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Bandsintown launches free Release pagesBandsintown, already the go-to platform for live show marketing, has added free Release pages to help artists announce new music, merch drops, contests. tours, presales, and more. Artists keep the. Continue reading
The post Bandsintown launches free Release pages appeared first on Hypebot.

Why songs are getting shorterThis week’s Hypebot Flashback Friday post digs into a trend that is showing no signs of abating. Bobby Oswinki shares why. Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 Songs today are shorter. Continue reading
The post Why songs are getting shorter appeared first on Hypebot.

Tascam and IK Multimedia T-RackS giveaway Tascam and IK Multimedia are currently offering users of qualifying Tascam hardware a copy of the T-RackS Porta One tape recorder plug-in. 

Fitzmaurice Relies on Amphion Atmos SetupAward-winning Irish mixer, engineer and producer Steve Fitzmaurice couldn’t have foreseen that his sessions with Dublin-based rock band, The Frames, in the mid-1990s would eventually lead to him buying a pair of Amphion reference monitors. Now, over twenty years into his career, Fitzmaurice is inspired by Apple Music’s launch of Spatial Audio, in mid-2021, he has since expanded his stereo monitor setup with additional speakers from Finnish manufacturer Amphion to enable him to also mix in Dolby Atmos.

Born in Dublin, Fitzmaurice knew by his early teens that he wanted to work in the record industry. But there were few studio job opportunities in Ireland, so after finishing school he went to London and started knocking on the doors of some of the city’s best known recording facilities. His early career began on the nightshift answering the phones at producer Trevor Horn’s Sarm West Studios. It wasn’t long before he was assisting on sessions with Horn and longtime Sarm West producer, engineer and mixer Julian Mendelsohn. After five years at Sarm, Fitzmaurice moved to New York and got a job at the Hit Factory and after a year went freelance.

Freelancer with new primary speakers

Over the years Fitzmaurice, who is based at Pierce Entertainment’s London studios, has worked with a long list of artists including Seal, Tina Turner, Tasmin Archer, Jodeci, Ian Brown, U2, Depeche Mode, Hikaru Utada, Sam Smith and many others. He has been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards, winning five for projects with Sam Smith, Seal and U2, also working on various Oscar, Golden Globe and Brit Award-winning productions.

It was David Odlum, guitarist with The Frames, who first brought Amphion monitors to Fitzmaurice’s attention. Now Odlum is also a successful producer and engineer, currently musical director for Sam Smith, with whom Fitzmaurice has worked since their debut album in 2013. “During lockdown we did a live stream from Abbey Road Studios for Sam,” Fitzmaurice recalls. “I was mixing, and Dave was going on about the Amphions, so I got a pair of One18s to try,” as an alternative to his usual monitors. “At first I found myself using them occasionally and then more and more.”

Fitzmaurice was happy with the results but still unsure, he says, so Odlum suggested that he try Amphion’s Two18 speakers. “I kept them for two or three weeks and the same thing happened — I was using my other monitors less and less. I ended up buying a pair of Two18s, and now they’re my primary speakers.”

Full view of the 7.1.4 Atmos Setup in Fitzmaurice's studio

Dynamic clarity with subtle details

Fitzmaurice has a simple philosophy when it comes to mixing. “I like clarity, low-end and dynamics. I don't really like clutter. My most used piece of equipment is probably the mute button! ​ These days, it’s a constant battle to make loud competitive records — we're in a world where you have to EQ and compress everything — but I try and keep some sense of clarity, bottom end and dynamics while also trying to keep everything as natural as I can.”

His Amphion monitors have certainly helped him achieve those goals. “I think that they’re pretty natural sounding, with clarity in the mid-range, especially, and the top end. But they’re not bland and boring. When you turn them up for clients, they’ve still got a bit of vibe.” His previous speakers worked best when they were loud, he says. “But with the Amphions I definitely mix quieter because they don’t change tonally when I turn them down.”

Fitzmaurice has worked with some of the best singers in the business and has earned a reputation for the sound of the vocals on his projects. There, too, the Amphion monitors are proving their worth. “The Amphions are very good for subtle details, smaller changes in volume and dynamics are easy to hear. ​ Because of this clarity I found them great for balancing vocals.”

Changing monitors is always challenging, but with three years of working with the Amphions behind him, he reports, “Mixes seem to be translating to every other system quite well, which obviously was my main concern, so I'm totally sold. And now I've got an Atmos system which is all Amphion speakers.” The new 7.1.4 setup in Fitzmaurice's room at Pierce Entertainment is comprised of three Amphion Two18 monitors combined with the BaseTwo25 bass extension system, four One18s for the surrounds ​ and four One15 speakers positioned overhead.

Cohesion with immersive mixes

One reason to dive into immersive mixing was that Apple Music’s default playback is the Spatial Audio mix of a song, if it exists, Fitzmaurice says. Having heard other people’s Atmos mixes of his stereo mixes, he says, “I started wanting to do it myself, being a bit of a control freak! Somebody asked me if there was a steep learning curve to mixing in Atmos, but I haven’t really found this as I am simply trying to convey the same feeling of the stereo mix in the immersive world.”

One big advantage of an Atmos mix is being able to spread the tracks out spatially, he continues. “You don't have to fit all this information into two speakers, and make tracks bright and aggressive. In fact, I’m often taking a little top end off my stereo stems, as they don't need it any more to cut through.”

But having heard Dolby Atmos mixes where some of the elements are too spread out, the song loses its power as a result, Fitzmaurice says. He is careful to keep his immersive mixes cohesive. “Primarily, the vocal and the drums are more in the front. Sometimes, with live drums that I've recorded, I might pull the room mics away from the main drum kit. I've mixed a few electronic things in Atmos, and there you've got a bit more freedom to play around. But I'm not a fan of stuff flying around and making myself feel seasick. Occasionally I’ll have something moving around slowly but it's more about placement.”

With the record labels, streamers and broadcasters all clamoring for immersive music mixes, the investment in an all-Amphion immersive speaker system is paying off. “Nearly every time I’m commissioned to do a stereo mix, as long as there's a budget, they want an Atmos mix as well.”

Fitzmaurice mixed eight tracks for the stereo version of Sam Smith’s current album, Gloria, released in January 2023 (Serban Ghenea mixed another three and David Odlum and Kevin “KD” Davis mixed one each). “All the songs that I mixed in stereo I mixed in Atmos as well,” he says. “There’s one song, “Perfect”, where I prefer the end section on the Atmos version because it feels like there’s much more space.”

He also recorded and mixed Smith’s live orchestral performance at Abbey Road Studios in Dolby Atmos. “It was Sam, a 16-piece choir and a 20-piece string section. I laid the studio out in a horseshoe and when I was mixing in Atmos I laid it out exactly like that. I had room mics as well and I put those exactly as they were in the room in the Atmos mix. You perceive it as if you are Sam, standing in the middle, so it envelops you. It sounds amazing in Atmos.”

About Amphion​Amphion Loudspeakers Ltd. was established in 1998. We design and build loudspeakers that are characterized by honest and accurate sound reproduction. Precise driver integration ensures world-class imaging and phase coherency. Controlled dispersion technology helps achieve more stable results in a variety of room acoustics. All products are handmade in Finland (and the Amphion amplifiers are assembled in Finland) to ensure enduring listening quality.

Have all of Daft Punk’s Face To Face samples finally been discovered?Daft Punk’s 2001 track Face To Face features a lot of samples. Over the years, musicians and producers have been trying to track down all of the original sources for each one – has the plunderphonic puzzle finally been solved?

READ MORE: Julian Casablancas suggested Stevie Wonder as Daft Punk’s Infinity Repeating vocalist

One YouTube user under the name of undrtune may have finally pieced all of the samples together, having shared a final update video of the journey to tracking each sample used. “Thanks to all sample hunters and Le Phunk for the sample breakdown,” reads the video’s description.
Todd Edwards, the famed producer and vocalist who worked with Daft Punk on the 2001 track, as well as 2013’s Fragments Of Time, has previously said that there were 70 samples used across the song and fans have struggled to locate all of them.
In undrtune’s videos, the user plays through each sample in Ableton Live, sharing its source next to it. Undrtune’s most recent sample tracking update of Face To Face before this recent instalment came three years ago.
You can check out the “Final Update” video below.

Another YouTube user, known as ‘the’, has uploaded a video showing you how to recreate the Discovery deep cut in 32 minutes. It, too, is an impressively close recreation of Daft Punk’s original.

In 2016, Todd Edwards gave fans a helping hand by showcasing some of the samples in isolation, followed by their positions in the final sequence. Posting to Instagram, he said that he was “re-creating the sample arrangement of Daft Punk’s and my collab of Face To Face for a discussion about their album Discovery…”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Todd Edwards (@toddedwards3000)

Edwards had previously branded his collaboration with Daft Punk for Fragments Of Time as “life-changing.”
“And I’m not being dramatic,” he explained on Apple Music 1 with Zane Lowe. “It started a new journey in my life and it wasn’t intentionally like, ‘oh, they saved me!’ but it definitely had a major impact.”
He later added that he had foreseen the band’s split in 2021: “I wasn’t shocked by the news because it’s again, I know them on a personal level, so I know the inner workings of… There’s the friendships there. It’s almost like when you think about it, it’s like a partnership can be like a marriage to a certain extent.
“And you have your ups and downs, and it’s just like if the chemistry isn’t there anymore, if it’s just not that you’re not melding together the way you used to, that it’s better to not force something and then come out with something that you feel is sub-par, than to just make it finite.”
The post Have all of Daft Punk’s Face To Face samples finally been discovered? appeared first on MusicTech.

Todd Edwards reveals his year 2000 setup for Daft Punk’s Face To FaceRevered dance producer Todd Edwards has shared the setup he used to contribute to Daft Punk’s 2001 hit Face to Face in an Instagram post.
READ MORE: Fred again… reveals bass sound in Jungle came from a dodgy cable
The Paris-based studio, which Daft Punk used to record and produce Discovery, was filled with vintage gear. Along with some now-retro PCs, it boasted Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, 1970s effects pedals, and 1980s drum machines.
In an Instagram post, Edwards wrote: “#tbt That time in 2000 when I went to Paris to finish working on Face To Face for @daftpunk ‘s DISCOVERY ALBUM”.
In the video, he shared images while narrating with a voiceover. “So what you are viewing is a glimpse into the original Daft Punk office in Montmartre, Paris from the year 2000,” he began.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Todd Edwards (@toddedwards3000)

“Take notice that sitting on the left is Gildas Loaëc, who helped out on [Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s] Crydamoure record label and went on to create Maison Kitsuné, a prestigious music label and fashion brand.
“On the phone on the right you will see Pedro Winter, Daft Punk’s former manager who went on to create Ed Banger Records, and I don’t have to tell you how big Ed Banger Records is.
“I think it’s safe to say that every bit of work that surrounded this group of friends turned to gold.”
The first image of the post also appears to reveal the scene for the artwork of Daft Punk’s 1998 single Revolution 909, which featured in their seminal 1997 debut album, Homework.
Though the robots show no signs of reuniting following their retirement, Edwards has advised fans not to “count out” a reunion. He said, “You don’t know what’s going to happen five years from now. They might decide we’re going to put on a tour, or maybe they get a stroke of… You don’t know, maybe the time away will bring them back together.”
Meanwhile, author Gabriel Szatan is working on After Daft, a book documenting the legacy of the duo with contributions from over 60 artists.
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