I am just a fan of Fallout game sorry and TV-series are good too

From Svedka to Anthropic, brands make bold plays with AI in Super Bowl adsFrom the first AI-generated Big Game ad courtesy of Svedka to Anthropic's beef with OpenAI, here are the biggest ads from Super Bowl LX.

Skid Row Seeks New Singer (Again)Hard rockers Skid Row have teamed up with online instrument retailer Sweetwater to find a new frontman.

The band has worked its way through a string of singers since forming in 1986, starting with Matt Fallon (also of an early Anthrax), who recorded some demos but didn't make it onto any official recordings.

Sebastian Bach was the singer for the band's most celebrated recordings, including the first three albums and songs like "Youth Gone Wild," "18 & Life," "Slave to the Grind," and "Monkey Business." Bach was in the band from 1987 to '96.

Johnny Solinger had an impressive 16 years with the mic, from 1999 to 2015, recording four albums. Tragically, Solinger died from liver failure in 2021 at the age of 55.

TNT singer Tony Harnell had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it spell in 2015, and he was followed by former DragonForce frontman ZP Theart, who was in the band from 2016 to 2022. Despite his six years in the ranks, Theart didn't record with Skid Row although he does have songwriting credits on four songs on the next album, The Gang's All Here.

That album featured Erik Grönwall (a former contestant on Swedish singing show Idol) behind the mic; Grönwall was in the band for two years until 2024. Bringing us right up to date, Halestorm singer Lzzy Hale filled in temporarily in 2025, helping Skid Row fulfill some summer dates.

So there we are. Seven singers (or six plus Hale) down the road, and Skid Row needs another one.

According to a statement, "The collaboration invites singers from around the world to audition for the opportunity to front one of rock’s most enduring and respected bands."

“This is not a contest or a gimmick,” the band says. “It’s a genuine search for the right voice, presence, and authenticity to carry Skid Row forward.”

“I first saw Skid Row play in New Jersey before they were signed, and they totally blew me away with the sheer quality of their songs, and the infectious high-energy of their performance,” said Sweetwater’s content creator Nick Bowcott. “We at Sweetwater are excited to partner with the group to host this once in a lifetime opportunity."

So there you go. If you fancy singing for Skid Row, find out more here.

The post Skid Row Seeks New Singer (Again) first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Audioblast MultiFXBlasterMultiFXBlaster is multi effect plugin with 4 chainable slots. Features: 8 spatial / time FX : Reverb, "Synth Verb", Stereo Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Vibrato, Auto Pan, Delay. 5 distortion / saturation FX : Fuzz, Clipper, 4Band Fuzz, Overdrive, Bit Reducer. 3 Filter FX : LowPass Filter, HiPass Filter, BandPass Filter. 2 Rhytmic / Sync FX : Gater, Looper. Preset browser. Resizable UI. 128 factory presets sorted in categories : voices / kick drum / guitar / misc / rhytmic. . Read More

Bitcoin rallies to $71.5K after historic sell-off, but derivatives metrics remain softBitcoin price soared back above $71,000, but BTC options data shows pro traders are still extremely cautious about the sustainability of the rebound rally. Is the sell-off really over?

Driving Sim Handbrake Based on Load CellSimulator-style video games are designed to scale in complexity, allowing players to engage at anything from a casual level to highly detailed, realistic simulation. Microsoft Flight Simulator, for example, can be played with a keyboard and mouse, a controller, or a huge, expensive simulator designed to replicate a specific airplane in every detail. Driving simulators are similar, and [CNCDan] has been hard at work on his DIY immersive driving sim rig, with this hand brake as his latest addition.
For this build, [CNCDan] is going with a lever-style handbrake which is common in motorsports like drifting and rallying. He has already built a set of custom pedals, so this design borrows heavily from them. That means that the sensor is a load cell, which takes input force from a lever connected to it with a spring mechanism. The signal is sent to an Arduino for processing, which is set up to send data over USB like any joystick or controller. In this case, he’s using an Arduino that was already handling inputs from his custom shifter, so he only needed to use another input and add some code to get his handbrake added into his sim.
[CNCDan] built a version of this out of laser-cut metal parts, but also has a fully 3D printable one available as well. Plenty of his other videos about his driving rig are available as well, from the pedal assembly we mentioned earlier to the force-feedback steering wheel. It’s an impressive set of hardware with a feel that replicates racing about as faithfully as a simulator could. Interestingly, we’ve also seen this process in reverse as well where a real car was used instead as a video game controller.

Gallery: Milk & Honey and Reservoir’s pre-GRAMMY ‘Award Season’ party 2026Held on the rooftop of the Petersen Automotive Museum, revellers included many high-flyers from the global music industry
Source

What is compression? A music production guide
Let’s demystify audio compression by discussing what it is, what its parameters are, and how it’s used in music production.

Get 80% off SSL X-ValveComp and SSL Drumstrip at AudioDeluxe
AudioDeluxe is a regular source of exclusive discounts, and this time, it’s a massive 80% off two SSL favorites, SSL X-ValveComp and SSL Drumstrip. You can get 80% off SSL X-ValveComp and SSL Drumstrip plugins for a limited time (the offer ends February 16, 2026). The discount means you can grab X-ValveComp for $9.99 (down [...]
View post: Get 80% off SSL X-ValveComp and SSL Drumstrip at AudioDeluxe

Aurora DSP’s Mammoth is FREE for a limited time via Instagram
Mammoth from Aurora DSP, a bass plugin that I’m sure any metalheads among us are already familiar with, is free for a limited time via Instagram. But before we get into it, let’s go through the offer because time is of the essence with this freebie. In celebration of Mammoth’s sixth anniversary, Aurora DSP is giving [...]
View post: Aurora DSP’s Mammoth is FREE for a limited time via Instagram

Musik Hack preview SweetEQ Musik Hack's upcoming third release combines EQ and saturation, and as with their previous offerings, comes presented in an intuitive interface that focuses on end results rather than overwhelming users with parameters.

Oliver Patrice Welder launches Smokestack Sounds Established in December 2025 with the aim of creating interactive, “vibe-driven” plug-ins, the company already have two products available: Cloud Guitar and Aurora, both of which have been developed with a focus on emotional experience. 

Suno says “accessibility” is the reason for its success — but I think accessibility is the problem with AI musicBandcamp recently made headlines with a simple and clear policy on AI: “Music and audio that is generated wholly or in substantial part by AI is not permitted on Bandcamp.”
This represents the first major music distributor to enforce such a ban, and it comes at a time when AI music companies are growing at breakneck speed. Last November, Suno, the AI music creation platform, signed a new licensing deal with Warner Music Group and was valued at $2.54 billion, with “accessibility ” being the driving force behind this massive number.
“Suno is the world’s #1 music creation app, making music accessible to everyone.” That quote is attributed to Amy Martin, a partner at Menlo Ventures, the venture capital firm that helped Suno raise $250 million on its immense valuation.
Suno’s leadership didn’t use the word “accessible” in their statement, but the gist was there:
“In just two years, we’ve seen millions of people make their ideas a reality through Suno, from first-time creators to top songwriters and producers integrating the tool into their daily workflows,” says Mikey Shulman, Co-Founder and CEO of Suno.
Also, in 2025, Shulman said: “It’s not really enjoyable to make music now […] It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you need to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music.”

Apparently, making the creative process as accessible as possible is how making music will be enjoyable again.
Not only is it ridiculous to think that artists don’t enjoy the time spent improving their craft, but accessibility is clearly just an excuse to tap into a larger customer base. The more people who can access something, the more people can pay for it.  How else could a company reach billions in value, and who wouldn’t want to pay for the immediate ability to make music?
To make that process available to everyone with the least effort possible is to dilute the hard work of artists who are pouring everything they have into their craft.
Spotify, the world’s most popular streaming service, provided a similar level of accessibility for releasing music. With the help of a distributor like DistroKid or CD Baby, anyone can upload their music to a streaming service. Arguably, this landscape is a positive for creators because everyone is equally searchable on Spotify. Any time someone discovers a brand new artist, they have the immediate ability to listen to their music. Those artists can also send direct links to their music, and all those streams will lead to royalties (if the song earned 1,000 streams in the previous 12 months).
The downside is that all artists, labels, private equity firms, or whoever owns the music gets the same royalties back from Spotify. They could have invested thousands of hours and millions of dollars into the song on top of the years of their life it took to learn their craft. Or they could have made the song in five minutes on Suno because making music is just that accessible now. Either way, it’s currently the same amount of money earned per stream.
Music data platform Chartmetric tracks roughly 11 million artists, and 80% of them have fewer than 1,000 Spotify monthly listeners. So, really, the result of this extreme accessibility is that millions of hobbyists are now able to share their music. This crowds the landscape for the artists who are giving it their all, and plagues them to earn practically nothing from the medium that most people use to listen to music in 2026.
This dynamic portends what will happen as Suno grows. The vast majority of creators on the platform will be hobbyists who just want to try their hand at making music for a mere moment.
But, Shulman said that “top songwriters and producers” are using Suno, right? That’s true of Timbaland, one of the most successful producers in history. Suno even made Timbaland a creative consultant for the company.
The thing is, according to Rolling Stone, Timbaland uses one function of Suno called “cover song.” As the name suggests, this function takes an existing song and transforms it into different versions. The existing songs Timbaland is using are from his extensive back catalogue, which he’s accrued over three decades of making music the hard way.
Per the interview, Timbaland describes these songs he’s covering as essentially complete. They have lyrics, melodies, beats, and production. Clearly, he is still honouring human creativity and then using Suno to generate new ideas. This is arguably the most benevolent use of the program (even though Timbaland did end up using a copyrighted song to train Suno without permission).
Unfortunately, barely any Suno users will have a Timbaland-level catalogue ready and waiting to transmute into different versions. They’ll have to start from scratch using prompts for an AI that’s trained on recorded music from hard-working artists for what will most likely be paid pitiful royalties.
…all in the name of accessibility.
What’s even more insulting about this idea of accessibility is that music-making is already so accessible! Smartphones and tablets can access free and fully-featured music-making apps and DAWs. These programs have everything a beginner needs: recording capabilities, virtual instruments, and effects. Madlib produced all the beats for, Bandana, his 2019 collaborative album with Freddie Gibbs, on an iPad, as an example.
With a few taps, brand new music-makers can lay down a beat and record some vocals. The first one won’t sound anywhere close to professional, but the 1,000th one will. All Suno does is give everyone the opportunity to skip from one to 1,000 and build music without their own tastes and techniques.
When Bandcamp launched Bandcamp Fridays during the pandemic, the people working there showed they care about the artists who are willing to take the journey from 1 to 1,000. Today, Bandcamp Fridays continue to pay out millions to artists, long after the pandemic has ended.
Clearly, people still want to use their hard-earned money to support artists putting in the work to make music, and rather than give every potential artist the chance to access that source of income, Bandcamp is drawing a line in the sand.
Bandcamp is offering a platform for dedicated musicians, producers and beatmakers to connect with audiences and sell the human-made music and merch that they care about. That’s what real accessibility looks like.
The post Suno says “accessibility” is the reason for its success — but I think accessibility is the problem with AI music appeared first on MusicTech.

“A mix engineer’s secret weapon”: Enjoy 83% off this Solid State Logic saturation plugin over at Plugin BoutiqueHave your mixes been feeling a little flat? Well now’s the perfect time to shake things up. As part of its 14th anniversary sale, Plugin Boutique is offering Solid State Logic’s Native X-Saturator for just £7.99, down from $44 – a massive 81% discount running until 15 February.
Whether you’re looking to subtly thicken a vocal, add snap to a snare, or go all-in on drum overheads, X-Saturator has the tools to do it.
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Described as a “mix engineer’s secret weapon”, the SSL Native X-Saturator is a saturation and distortion plugin designed to bring analogue-style warmth and harmonic richness to your tracks. The main Drive control determines how hard your signal hits the saturation stage. Crank it up, and you introduce more harmonic distortion, or keep it gentle for a warm, creamy tone.

READ MORE: Noble Sceptre: A tiny Bluetooth transmitter that unlocks high-res audio from almost any device – and lets you charge while you listen

Choose from second-order valve-style distortion, third-order transistor distortion, or blend the two for a perfect combination of tube warmth and transistor-like edge. Input and output gain knobs make level-matching simple, and an internal bypass button allows smooth A/B comparisons without clicks, pops, or latency. Extra touches like a +6 dB Boost switch, factory presets, full automation, and undo/redo buttons make it a practical, versatile tool for mixing and creative sound design.
The plugin runs on macOS 11 Big Sur to 13 Ventura (M1 compatible) and Windows 10–11, and supports AU, VST2, VST3, and AAX formats. A free iLok Account is also needed for the authorisation of this software.

Get the SSL Native X-Saturator today at Plugin Boutique.
The post “A mix engineer’s secret weapon”: Enjoy 83% off this Solid State Logic saturation plugin over at Plugin Boutique appeared first on MusicTech.

Noble Sceptre: A tiny Bluetooth transmitter that unlocks high-res audio from almost any device – and lets you charge while you listenIf you’ve ever felt like your wireless headphones sound better on one device than another, Noble Audio has a fix. The company’s latest release, Sceptre, is a pocket-sized Bluetooth dongle designed to upgrade the wireless audio coming from your phone, laptop or tablet – so you can enjoy better sound without replacing your favourite headphones or earphones.

READ MORE: Audiotonix to acquire DPA Microphones, Wisycom, and Austrian Audio, delivering “substantial advantages to all professional customers who demand the best”

Sceptre connects via USB-C and works as an external Bluetooth transmitter, sidestepping the often limited wireless hardware inside everyday devices. It runs on Qualcomm’s QCC5181 chipset with Bluetooth 5.4 and supports advanced codecs including LDAC and aptX Adaptive, alongside AAC and SBC. In plain terms, that means clearer, more detailed and reliable wireless audio as long as your headphones or speakers support those formats too.
It’s not just about music, either. Noble says Sceptre is built for general media use, so streaming video, gaming and calls should all benefit from a more stable, consistent connection. The dongle supports standard Bluetooth profiles (HFP, A2DP, and AVRCP) for audio playback and controls, and offers a wireless range of up to 20 metres in typical environments.
One particularly useful feature is the charge-through USB-C design. You can keep your phone, tablet or laptop powered while Sceptre is in use – perfect for long flights, commutes or desk sessions where battery drain is a concern.
Setup is handled through the Noble app for the initial pairing, after which the dongle can be plugged into any compatible device as needed.
Priced at $69.99/£64.99/€69.99, Sceptre launches on 6 February 2026 and will be available direct from Noble Audio and selected retailers.
Learn more at Noble Audio. 
The post Noble Sceptre: A tiny Bluetooth transmitter that unlocks high-res audio from almost any device – and lets you charge while you listen appeared first on MusicTech.