Large demand zone below $2K ETH price gives signal on where Ether may goETH’s market structure and fractal analysis from 2021 and 2024 provide insights where significant buy demand may exist. Currently, it’s on the downside.

The Bassline That Blew My Mind: Nukem in a RushDon Lauder, bassist with San Diego thrash metal titans Nukem, told us about his Geddy Lee "YYZ" love...

Don Lauder: The first time I think I actually noticed bass guitar was when I first heard Rush’s song "YYZ" back in 1981. My brother’s best friend was/is a huge Rush fan and so when Moving Pictures came out he played it for us. When "YYZ" played, I was confused because I had never heard a musical pattern like that. I was only 8 but still I recognized that something was way different and in a very cool way.

When it got to the part where Geddy plays his killer lead licks, I initially thought it was Alex on guitar doing that until I was corrected. I was even further confused because I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of bass playing anything other than holding down the rhythm. From that moment on, my idea of what bass guitar was and could be was forever changed. Music in general became much bigger for me and that lead me in a new direction that got me to where I am today.

Nukem's "Tactics of Terror" single is out now. The album The Grave Remains drops in April.

The post The Bassline That Blew My Mind: Nukem in a Rush first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

An ice dance duo skated to AI music at the OlympicsCzech ice dancers Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek are learning the hard way that LLMs sometimes spit out straight-up plagiarism.

Pi Pico Learns Morse CodeWhen [101 Things] didn’t want to copy Morse code, he decided to build a Pi Pico system to read it for him. On the face of it, this doesn’t seem particularly hard, until you look at the practical considerations. With perfectly timed dots and dashes, it would be trivial. But in real life, you get an audio signal. It has been mangled and mixed with noise and interference as it travels through the air. Then there’s the human on the other end who will rarely send at a constant speed with no errors.
Once you consider that, this becomes quite the project, indeed. The decoder captures audio via the Pi’s analog-to-digital converter. Then it resamples the input, applies an FFT, and converts the output via a complex classification pipeline that includes, among other things, Bayesian decoding. Part of the pipeline makes simple typo corrections. You can see the device do its thing in the video below.

Another issue with the code is that it decodes multiple channels in real time. So looking up spelling corrections, for example, has to be done rapidly. The device can also send code and show stats and graphics on an LCD screen.
If you know the code is arriving at a known speed, you could do something much simpler. The Pico has lots of memory which makes it easy to use complex algorithms. When you are memory-limited, you need different tricks.

Roslyn Pineda appointed President, Asia for Sony Music Publishing, as Carol Ng retiresPineda succeeds longtime SMP Asia President, Carol Ng, who will remain with the company until her planned retirement at the end of March this year.
Source

Big Man Labs Big Max ZeroBig Max Zero is a versatile limiter with four distinct algorithms and ultra-low latency, built for music creation and production. While most limiters are designed for mastering with heavy lookahead delay, Big Max Zero is made to live on your channels and buses while you work — keeping monitoring tight and creativity uninterrupted. Four algorithms, from transparent to aggressive. Read More

Kris Bowers (Bridgerton, The Wild Robot) gives an intimate studio tour
Legendary composer Kris Bowers (Bridgerton, The Wild Robot) invited us to his gorgeous Los Angeles studio for an intimate tour.

Build your very own Universal Audio UAD bundle – with 10 plugins for just £87Plugin Boutique is offering a Universal Audio ‘Winter Mix Tape’ plugin bundle deal until 26 February, allowing you to pick 10 plugins for just £87.
This bundle would normally cost you over £200, and lets you choose from 51 plugins in total, spanning across UAD’s studio effects, virtual instruments, and amp models.
[deals ids=”71FNDuMHGsOaww5iso2dQB”]
The bundle spans emulations of legendary hardware and UAD original plugins too. You can select from its range of vintage amp emulator pedal plugins – the Dream ‘65, Ruby ‘63, Lion ‘68, and Woodrow ‘68 — or get your hands on its celebrated Minimoog plugin. Its popular LA-6176 channel strip plugin and 1176 FET compressor are also up for grabs.

READ MORE: This instrument brings Windows Vista-style, Frutiger Aero-inspired sounds into your DAW

You can select any 10 from the full list below:

LA-6176
Pultec EQ Collection
LA-2A Tube Compressor
Fairchild Collection
Pure Plate
Oxide
LA-3A
1176 FET
Galaxy
Dream ‘65
Ruby ‘63
Lion ‘68
Woodrow ‘68
Waterfall Rotary
Ravel
Electra
Waterfall B3
Polymax
Lexicon 224
Ampex ATR-102
UA 175B/176
Century Tube Channel
Helios 69 Preamp
Verve Analog Machines
Brigade Chorus
Studio D Chorus
MiniMoog
dbx® 160 Compressor / Limiter
SSL 4000 E Channel Strip
SSL 4000 G Bus Compressor
Opal Morphing Synth
Anthem Analog Synthesizer
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection
1176 Classic Limiter Collection
Sound City Studios
API 2500 Bus Compressor
API Vision Channel Strip Collection
Avalon VT-737 Tube Channel Strip
Capitol Mastering Compressor
Capitol Chambers
Hitsville EQ Collection
Hitsville Reverb Chambers
Manley Massive Passive EQ
Studer A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder
A-Type Multiband Dynamic Enhancer

And the following, which are not native and will require Apollo or UAD-2 hardware:

API 500 EQ Collection
Empirical Labs FATSO
EMT 140
EMT 250
Cooper® Time Cube Mk II Delay

Earlier this year, MusicTech reviewed Universal Audio’s Volt 876 audio interface, which relies upon analogue circuitry to add character to your recordings. There are seven members of the Volt family, six of which are portable. The 876 is the newest and largest addition, and is a 1U rack mount module with 24 ins and 28 outs. Like its siblings, it uses USB-C for audio, but requires mains power.
Shop this deal and more over at Plugin Boutique.
The post Build your very own Universal Audio UAD bundle – with 10 plugins for just £87 appeared first on MusicTech.

A full Dolby Atmos set up for £169: Meet Majority’s new flagship Bowfell surround sound systems and soundbarsCambridge-based audio company Majority has launched a new line of soundbars and surround sound systems, hailed as its “most ambitious and comprehensive” to date.
These new launches are designed for music fans as well as film lovers and gamers, and Majority says that the collection’s headliner, the Bowfell Halo Atmos, is “engineered to redefine what immersive home audio sounds like at this price level.”

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

The flagship Bowfell Halo Atmos is, as its name suggests, powered by Dolby Atmos technology, and delivers 300W of output. The system includes an external wireless subwoofer and dual wireless rear satellite speakers, creating a fully immersive, three-dimensional soundstage. Connectivity options include HDMI ARC and optical inputs, alongside Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless streaming. USB and AUX playback are supported, and a remote control is included. It comes in at £169.95.
The Bowfell Halo Dolby system offers a slightly cheaper price point (£119.95) and still offers some Dolby goodness. It delivers 5.1 surround sound with Dolby Audio processing and a total power output of 180W. The system features an external wired subwoofer and dual wired rear satellite speakers, as opposed to its wireless sibling. Connectivity options remain the same.
Moving away from the Halo offerings are the Bowfell Axis Atmos (£129.95) and the Bowfell Axis Dolby (£89.95) soundbars.  The Bowfell Axis Atmos is a 2.1 channel soundbar system also powered by Dolby Atmos, producing a 200W output, while the Axis Dolby delivers 120W of output with Dolby Audio processing. The Axis Atmos features an external wireless subwoofer (wired on the Axis Dolby), and connectivity options remain the same.
The Bowfell soundbar range will launch on 16 February and will be available from Amazon and Richer Sounds. The range will be showcased at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show from 20 February. Find out more via Majority.
The post A full Dolby Atmos set up for £169: Meet Majority’s new flagship Bowfell surround sound systems and soundbars appeared first on MusicTech.

Stacks Audio offers the FREE eleven-product NAMM 2026 Bundle
Stacks Audio has released its free eleven-product NAMM 2026 Bundle. For anyone lucky enough to visit the NAMM show in Anaheim earlier this year, I hope you had a great time. For everyone else, the only thing better than keeping up to date with YouTube videos is getting something free, just for the sake of [...]
View post: Stacks Audio offers the FREE eleven-product NAMM 2026 Bundle

Woodstock Audio releases free Waveform Compressor plugin for Windows and macOS
Woodstock Audio has released Waveform Compressor, a free compressor plugin for macOS and Windows. Obviously, free compressors are nothing new, and most of us already have way more compressor plugins than we realistically need. And pretty much every DAW out there comes with a decent comp of its own. But even so, Waveform Compressor is [...]
View post: Woodstock Audio releases free Waveform Compressor plugin for Windows and macOS

“The gold standard in dynamics – times five”: Softube and Weiss launch the DS5 Multiband CompressorSoftube has continued its longstanding partnership with Weiss Engineering with a new version of its award-winning DS1 mastering processor.
Offering “complete control over compression across specific frequency ranges”, the Weiss DS5 Multiband Compressor, Softube says, delivers the power of the Weiss DS1 “to the power of five” via “line-by-line code port” of the DS1, while retaining simple ease of operation.

READ MORE: Behringer launches the BMX, its take on the classic Oberheim DMX drum machine

The Weiss DS5 Multiband Compressor comes with a number of presets designed by prominent engineers including Bob Katz, Jonathan Wyner, Maor Appelbaum and Philippe Weiss, which can be further tweaked to user taste or to work perfectly with any mix.
Softube made every effort when designing the DS5 Multiband Compressor to adhere to Weiss’s philosophy of “transparency”. It says the plugin’s filters and compression are designed to be transparent, with fast-acting filters and pre- and post-ringing artifacts reduced to a “mathematical minimum”.
The plugin’s phase-compensated 24 dB/octave crossover filters can be activated in three modes: Dynamic Phase, Static Phase and Linear Phase.
The Weiss DS5 Multiband Compressor is available now at an introductory price of $449/€449 until 7 April, after which the price will rise to $549/€549.
The plugin is also available as part of the Weiss Complete Collection 3, which has an intro price of $899/€899 until 7 April, after which it’ll rise to $1,199/€1,199.
For more information, head to Softube.
The post “The gold standard in dynamics – times five”: Softube and Weiss launch the DS5 Multiband Compressor appeared first on MusicTech.

Icon Pro Audio announce the Touch 8 The latest addition to Icon Pro Audio's selection of interfaces boasts a striking design that centres around a 10-inch capacitive multi-touch LCD screen.

Plugin Boutique offers BFD 3.5 acoustic drum plugin for $39
Plugin Boutique is offering BFD 3.5, the flagship acoustic drum instrument from BFD, at an 80% discount until February 14. This brings the price down to $39 from the regular $199. BFD 3.5 is a full-scale virtual drum studio designed for realistic acoustic drum production. Instead of focusing on quick loop-based workflows, it aims to [...]
View post: Plugin Boutique offers BFD 3.5 acoustic drum plugin for $39

Ozzy Osbourne guitarist says Pro Tools would have “ruined” classic albums like Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper’sOzzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde believes the best music comes from simplicity, and that if Pro Tools were around during the making of classic records like Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, these records wouldn’t have had the same magic.
Wylde joined Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band in 1987, and played for him on and off throughout his long career. He also fronts his own band, Black Label Society.

READ MORE: Inside Abbey Road Studios’ new collection of rare and vintage instruments: “We wanted not just the digital version of this gear, but the original”

And in a new interview with Metal Hammer, the guitarists reflects on why the simpler recording and production technology available to bands prior to DAWs like Pro Tools contributed to the success of such records.
“When you actually listen to all the old albums, Sgt. Pepper’s…, Jimi Hendrix records, the first Sabbath album or Zeppelin’s first album, you go, ‘Man imagine if they had today’s Pro Tools and had, you know, a hundred tracks.’ I’d go, ‘Those albums wouldn’t sound like they do.’
“It would have ruined them. [Pink Floyd’s] Dark Side Of The Moon wouldn’t have sounded like it does if it had today’s resources,” he continues. “If Led Zeppelin IV wasn’t recorded in ‘71, if it was recorded today, it wouldn’t have sounded the way it does, because a lot of things were either happy mistakes, or you had to be creative.”

Wylde isn’t the only artist who feels today’s tools may be having a counterproductive effect on record production. Looking back on the formative Smashing Pumpkins albums Gish (1991) and Siamese Dream (1993), Billy Corgan told Rick Beato in 2022 that modern tools are “like the filter on Instagram”.
“It’s hard to go back into that brain…” he said. “Now, if you try to do that, you’re thinking in the back of your mind, ‘Well, if I mess up, we can fix it, move it…’ And when you start moving – it’s over. It’s like the filter on Instagram.”
Emerging technologies are regularly the source of debate in the music world. With AI an increasingly common talking point, Zakk Wylde also reflected on its impact during a recent Q&A in London.
“AI is fine. It would almost be like if me and you were sitting around going, ‘Hey, guys, can you write a song you think Black Sabbath would write?’ So it’s no different than that.
“But you’re never gonna be able to replace what is coming out of Ozzy’s mind, what’s coming out of Tony Iommi’s mind, what Geezer’s [Butler] thinking when he’s gonna write lyrics, and how Bill’s [Ward] gonna approach the drums on a riff, what kind of drum beat he’s gonna play,” he added. “When you get a record from whatever your favourite artist or your favourite band [is], you’re getting a piece of them. So you can’t ever replace that.”
Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society will release a new album, Engines Of Demolition, on 27 March. Find out where to catch them on tour via their official website.
The post Ozzy Osbourne guitarist says Pro Tools would have “ruined” classic albums like Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper’s appeared first on MusicTech.