ROLI Piano Learning System review: A whole new way to learn keyboard and pianoHardware bundle (Piano and Airwave): £678
Ongoing subscription for lessons on app: £14.99 / month, or £8.33 / month if billed annually
roli.com
In 2021, ROLI started to focus on music learning, while also developing new versions of its advanced Seaboard instruments at the same time. Now the company has released a series of products again centred around learning piano, but this time with a slightly different angle. The Piano Learning System consists of three elements; a keyboard, the company’s Airwave device and an iPad app, all of which work together. It’s not the only piano learning system on the market but it is the only one with an advanced camera system and AI assistant combo. The question is, does all this tech justify the price?]

READ MORE: ROLI on the Seaboard BLOCK M: “MPE has become accepted in many producer’s workflows — MIDI 2.0 will be another big step forward”

Let’s get it out of the way. There is a steep upfront cost involved with this system. We’ll assess its potential value later but here’s what your outlay gets you. The ROLI Piano and Airwave —available in a bundle deal for £678— are both required to get the best from the Learn app (although it does work in a more limited way with just Piano). A third-party MIDI keyboard won’t work, though using the Airwave separately as a MIDI controller does support any keyboard. The app runs on a USB-C iPad or Android tablet, so you’ll need to supply that too.
ROLI is offering the hardware bundle for £678. Crucially, access to the actual in-app lessons beyond the very first one is not included, so there’s a rolling cost of £14.99 per month or £8.33 per month if billed annually. Honestly, there’s little point in buying the system if you’re not going to also have the lessons.
Image: Press
Returning to the practicality for a moment, there is some setup involved in registering the hardware and plugging it all together. The Airwave acts as stand for the tablet which connects to the Airwave over USB-C for data and power, while the Airwave plugs into the mains via its bundled 65W external power supply. The Piano connects to the Airwave through a proprietary magnetic connector and powers and charges its internal battery that way. The Airwave also has a dongle for a sustain pedal input (though no pedal is supplied) and a 3.5 mm headphone output, acting as an audio interface for playing while listening on wired headphones. Otherwise of course, sound is output by your iPad’s speakers.
The software side of the setup is smooth, with easy-to-follow questions about your skill level and prompts to connect everything at specific times. The camera system in the Airwave needs you to calibrate it on first use but this is quick and easy and simply involves moving your hands around over the keyboard. 3D visual representations of your hands appear in the app as they move, with no noticeable lag at all. The system is extremely snappy and responsive running on my M1-powered iPad Pro.
If you tell the app you are an absolute beginner it starts you off with basic instructions and lessons. The reason ROLI’s Piano is required to use the Learn app is that they both use a colour co-ordination system to show you which notes to play and when. That’s a bit of a simplification – actually there’s a very clever and dynamic interplay between the backlit keys and the scrolling note display on the tablet, again with no latency.
Image: Press
The cameras watch your hands and the onscreen graphics guide you as to where to place your fingers while also telling you note names to reinforce learning of these basic ideas. If it senses you are unsure or making a wrong choice, the app generates ‘strings’ to show you which direction you should be moving your fingers. The scrolling display will also adjust its speed to account for your level of confidence, slowing down if you are less sure and speeding up as you do. Additionally, the company’s AI Music Coach (currently in beta) can, if you like, ask about which kinds of music you’d like to learn and then call up specific lessons, offering positive feedback when you play well.
Once you start to progress, the app provides access to video lessons from tutors, more advanced tutorial projects and theory as well as a more conventional stave-based view when you’re ready to move on from the Star Wars-style scrolling note view. ROLI says that the system uses machine learning to adapt to your personal playing style and the app lets you slow down and loop sections until you’ve nailed them, undertake challenges and the like. More lessons and content will be added over time via the app.
What this product does, it does well. The camera system is extremely accurate and integrates seamlessly with the app. While apps like Simply Piano listen to your playing via a phone mic, this one has far deeper insight into what you are doing thanks to the bespoke hardware and software. In terms of costs, ROLI’s website makes some (necessarily) broad brush comparisons with in-person piano lessons, citing a theoretical cost of £2,740 for a year of lessons at £45 a time versus £778 for ROLI’s gear and a one-year membership.
As someone who had years of lessons as a child (going on to become a professional pianist) and now uses technology all the time, I have a few thoughts on this. As a learner would I have preferred a technological teacher like this had it existed at the time? Probably yes. No travel, no waiting. But as an adult looking back, did having human teachers and a real physical piano add value that goes beyond the simple comparison of costs? I would say that it did.
Image: Press
In an era when we all have more screen time than we probably should, you might ask if another screen-based pursuit is a good idea. On the other hand, this system is absolutely more convenient and in the long run, less costly than in-person lessons, even if the upfront cost is significant. On a practical level there will come a time when your skills outgrow the 49 keys available here and at present that’s the limit for the Learn system, even though the Piano does have octave shift controls. It should also come with a sustain pedal for the price, as that’s another component that no serious player could be without, and a core part of learning expressive playing skills.
The Piano Learning System is an intriguing product—or trio of products —that takes a new approach to learning keyboard skills, theory and playing. It won’t be for everyone— there is still much to be said for human interaction— but it’s certainly more convenient than driving to lessons and back every week. And it does give you a (49-key) piano to practise on at home.
It feels like ROLI should include more software lessons to give users a more extensive taster. A few extra lessons or an introductory week before charging, for example. This is something the company could implement fairly easily, so I hope they’d consider it. One final thought is that the Piano and Airwave also work as controllers outside of the Learn app, so as your skills develop you will be able to use them for other musical endeavours too.
Image: Press
Key features

Airwave camera system for hand tracking
Learn app running on USB-C iPad or Android tablet
Piano with 49 full-size backlit keys, with full spectrum colour
USB-C format power and data, Airwave is mains powered
Keyboard has polyphonic aftertouch, pitch bend, octave shift, 6 hour battery
Airwave has headphone output and pedal input
Airwave is a class compliant audio and MIDI interface
Magnetic connector between Piano and Airwave
Virtual lessons and video tutorials via app
AI-based assistant in-app

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ROLI Airwave review: Prepare yourself for hyper-expressive MIDI control in six dimensions£299, roli.com
I recently tested ROLI’s Airwave as part of its Piano Learning System, but the hardware controller also works with any MIDI setup, using the same technology to enable expressive MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) control rather than teaching you to play the keyboard. In this context, Airwave operates alone and you don’t need a ROLI keyboard—they do recommend one for the extra MPE features they offer, but any MIDI keyboard will do for playing notes. The idea, as will be familiar to Seaboard users, is to allow greater expression than regular MIDI gives you. In this case it’s not pressure that generates it, but movements in the air.

READ MORE: ROLI on the Seaboard BLOCK M: “MPE has become accepted in many producer’s workflows — MIDI 2.0 will be another big step forward”

The Airwave looks sort of like a music stand and indeed, in other configurations is used to prop up a tablet. In standalone mode you arrange it to point its multiple cameras down at the keyboard, which means positioning it as you would a reading light. Plug it into the mains using its power supply and then into your computer over USB-C and it becomes a MIDI input device and also an audio output— a 3.5mm headphone jack is available as is a dongle for a sustain pedal input, though a pedal is not supplied. Actually a computer will power it over USB-C but, if you want to also connect a ROLI Piano magnetically, you’ll need to use mains power.
Registering the unit online unlocks access to the software downloads you will need in order to set up and use it. ROLI Airwave Control is a lightweight app that lets you change modes and recalibrate the sensors while the Airwave Player is a standalone and plugin instrument specially developed for the hardware, with a 6 GB sample library.
Image: Press
On first run the software will ask you to calibrate the hardware based on whichever MIDI keyboard you are using. Up to a full 88 notes can be tracked with the cameras, but you’re likely to be using gestures in a more central zone of somewhere around 49 keys. The software wants you to move your hands around a few times during calibration but the process is incredibly quick and simple.
After this, the five ‘air dimensions’ that the cameras track are shown separately in the Airwave Player and tagged by colour to make them easier to see:

Dimension name
How to use
How it’s calculated

Air Raise
Hand movement up
Absolute wrist height above the keyboard surface

Air Tilt
Hand rotation around the wrist
Absolute wrist position left or right

Air Glide
Hand movement left or right
Absolute wrist position forwards or backwards

Air Slide
Hand movement forwards or backwards
Absolute hand angle relative to the keyboard surface

Air Flex
Hand angle downwards
Absolute hand angle downwards

Air Grasp
Make a fist
A flat hand is 0% and a fist is 100%

The first thing you will probably want to do is play some of ROLI’s own sounds in the Player, since these have been created to respond to the multiple control channels generated by Airwave. There’s an impressive selection covering a range of types of sound from conventional to experimental, with an emphasis on morphing and changing sounds through gestures rather than necessarily playing overly complex keyboard parts.
As ROLI’s videos demonstrate, you will find yourself playing MIDI keys then using hand gestures to experiment with changing the sound, perhaps holding notes with a sustain pedal or with one hand while creating movements with the other. It’s a little bit like a Theremin, though much more advanced. The visual feedback is invaluable too, with the six dimension sections showing you in real time how your hand movements are being interpreted.
Of course this all takes a little practice—these are largely new ways of interacting with sound and the presets all respond differently, so some time is required to get the hang of it. Like the Seaboard it’s also very much of a style—fairly experimental, not necessarily something you’d use on all your tracks. But still, the camera tracking is incredibly accurate and also without latency, so everything feels pin-sharp. Some dimensions end up being used more and others a little less by their nature and although the hand gestures initially feel strange, you acclimatise quickly.
Image: Press
You can set up Airwave to work with most leading DAWs by following instructions online. Some like Cubase, Logic and Live natively support MPE MIDI. Reaper and FL Studio are also listed, with more limited support for MPE. When using Airwave as a controller for third-party plugins you need to change its mode since by default it sends constant MIDI data, which would overwrite existing MIDI clips.
Follow the setup instructions and you can use the Airwave Control app and MIDI Learn or mapping mode in your DAW to assign individual dimensions to specific parameters inside a plugin or instrument. As a process this could be a bit smoother but it’s not really ROLI’s fault – indeed, custom mapping MIDI channels from any hardware into plugins is usually a multi-step process and often DAWs won’t save that mapping globally either.
The Airwave Player is an innovative and expressive software instrument that, as you’d hope, unlocks the power of Airwave’s hardware. Sadly, at present Airwave isn’t fully compatible with ROLI Studio Player or Studio Drums for MPE (only via manual MIDI mapping), which is a great shame. There may be a technical reason they’re not compatible but I’d hope to see the developer expand the existing instrument offering and potentially add more that work natively with Airwave too.
A few other movement-based MIDI trackers do exist but though cheaper, none approaches the sophistication of Airwave. Leap Motion, Kaos and AirBending rely on iOS devices, phones or webcams to work and are less powerful—often significantly so. At £299, Airwave is reasonably priced for a pretty unique kind of controller with a solid build quality. It’s debatable whether you’re going to use it all the time—what it does is far more expressive than a regular MIDI controller but also maybe something best used for effect. At the price though it’s probably a controller you can add to your studio for just such occasions without breaking the bank.
Image: Press
Key features

Expressive controller
ROLI Vision hand-tracking camera
3.5 mm TRS headphone output
3.5 mm TRS pedal input (including 6.35 mm dongle)
2 USB-C ports (data and power)
Magnetic USB port for use with compatible ROLI hardware
Class-compliant MIDI over USB

The post ROLI Airwave review: Prepare yourself for hyper-expressive MIDI control in six dimensions appeared first on MusicTech.

Tennessee crypto kiosk ban set to go into effect July 1Crypto ATM operators and businesses hosting the machines have until July 1 to be in compliance with the new law or risk potential fines and prison time.

Versilian Studios Vintage XylophoneFull of classic character and charm, Vintage Xylophone features a deep sampling of two adjustable mallet types, 6 velocities, and 9 round robins of an antique Deagan "Xylorimba" featuring rosewood keys. Captured across 6 mic arrays including everything from state-of-the-art measurement omnis to warm ribbons and ultra low noise condensers, it provides unparalleled flexibility in any mix and context, from cartoons to nature documentaries and anything in between. Vintage Xylophone is also the perfect match to Virtuosity Vibraphone, having been recorded using the same mic arrays and techniques. A Classic Sound Many modern xylophone sample libraries record modern instruments intended for orchestral performances, but many classic records and film/TV scores feature older instruments with a distinct sound and character impossible to achieve with samples of a modern instrument. Worse still, most large orchestral collections treat the xylophone as an afterthought, often only including the hardest mallets or greatly lacking in detail, not to mention often in fixed, wet spaces which don't fit other genres. While recording Musicmakers Volume 2, we found this antique instrument in a dark corner of the beautifully quiet Wild Horse Studio. With time left in our final day of recording, we set out to right the "score" and create a xylophone library of decades past. State-of-the-Art Recordings 6 sets of microphones were used to record the vibraphone at various distances and with various sound qualities. These microphones were hand-chosen for their low noise and high accuracy, over more popular recording mics an order of magnitude or two noisier or higher distortion. In doing so, objectionable post-processing such as denoising could be completely avoided. Up close, the newly-released AEA N28 stereo ribbon mic provides a warm, wide sound while retaining 100% mono compatibility with its coincident Blumlein configuration. For the critical overhead role, two pairs of SDCs provide two contrasting views: the laboratory reference Gefell M221 measurement omnis vs. supercardioid M310 SDC's. Space and precision vs. focus and clarity. Rather than compromise by choosing one or the other, VISAGE lets you mix continuously between the two overheads, creating a "virtual mic" of any pattern between omni and supercardioid, dialing in your perfect overhead sound. The main position is filled by a pair of Gefell UM930's. Among the most expensive and rarest solid state mics in existence due to its unique dual-capsule design, this microphone is extremely low noise (7 dBA) with an articulate, present character inspired by vintage designs. Further out in the room, a pair of Gefell M950 wide cardioids with equally low self noise and spacious but detailed wide cardioid pattern provide the perfect sound for blending with your favorite samples from scoring stages and concert halls. Underneath the xylophone are a pair of TLM 170's capturing the resonance and body of the instrument in a configuration mirroring the overheads. Realism & Flexibility Two mallet choices are provided, yarn and rubber. A hardness knob allows you to adjust the strength of the mallet, based on measurements made of a variety of mallets. When yarn is set to its hardest and rubber to its softest, the effect is almost indistinguishable. In this way a smooth gradient of colors are possible while keeping the sample count "vaguely reasonable". No effort was made to hide the character of the instrument. All inconsistencies in voicing, rattles, and thumps were allowed through. However, great care was taken to ensure a consistent sample set. Each velocity layer was recorded a constant dB distance apart within a range of +/- 1.5 dB. This was then normalized to ensure perfectly smooth transitions. An incredible 9 round robins were recorded of each and every hit, ensuring natural rendering of rolls/tremolo and ostinati. Neighbor-borrowing RR is available if desired. The entire xylophone is chromatically sampled, providing a more accurate sound than instruments sampled using wholetone or diatonic methods. Chromatic sampling allows the slightly different positioning of the accidentals ("black keys") to be audible in the instrument. Both mallets feature 6 Velocities and 9RR for a natural and dynamic feel. Advanced Control Utilizing the new VISAGE 3 engine to its fullest, Vintage Xylophone packs in a range of controls over every aspect of the instrument including but not limited to: Volume, pan, width, solo/mute, purge, and routing for each mic position. Blendable OH microphones (continuous variable pattern control). Full velocity curve control. Dynamic range control. Moveable keyswitch block. Transposition. Range limiting & expanding. Easy-access reverb settings. Fully customizable tuning & temperaments engine. Neighbor-borrowing RR (customizable). Mono aftertouch note-off triggering available. Integration with NKS/NI keyboards. MIRAGE FX control panel Exposes and simplifies Kontakt's internal FX engine. Utilizes the latest FX in Kontakt 7. Modular construction allows updates to VISAGE/MIRAGE FX separately. Complementary Colors Recorded with the same microphone structure and a similar environment as Vintage Xylophone, Virtuosity Vibraphone perfectly complements its sound with a dusty, warm tone captured from a brand-new 3.5-octave vibraphone. Our fan-favorite Tubular Bells II also features a similarly dry, detailed sound suitable for any context and a similar mic setup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqtb0LX5OYg Read More

A Song That Changed My Life: A Place to Bury Strangers on Slowdive’s “Jazz Odeon”The Band Members: Oliver Ackermann, guitar, vocals, bass; John Fedowitz, bass; Sandra Fedowitz, drums.

The Storyteller: Oliver Ackermann

The Song: Composed with swirling, spellbinding sonics, Slowdive’s “Jazz Odeon” unfolds like an ever-evolving auditory drift — waxing and waning, dissolving and returning. Long coveted as a captured live rarity traded on cassettes and limited-run CD-Rs, the track circulated through the close-knit shoegaze community, a ghost signal passing hand to hand. As one of the many shimmery, shivery standouts from the Reading, Berkshire-based band, it solidified Slowdive as preeminent authors of ethereal, dreampop soundscapes.

The Background: Before forming A Place to Bury Strangers, Oliver Akermann was already chasing elusive sonics percolating within his subconscious through his Virginia-based noise-gaze project Skywave. Built on dense, controlled distortion and heavily fuzzed-out melodics, the band gained traction within the tight-knit yet far-reaching avant-garde nu-gaze network.

In this pre-streaming DIY ecosystem, hand-traded cassettes and limited-run CD-Rs shaped an underground culture that valued the thrill of discovery. Music existed in fragile circulation — a landscape of ghosted artifacts where recordings were prized precisely because they could vanish if a tape or dub was lost, mislabeled, or damaged. These songs felt like sonic artifacts; flickering transmissions, unstable and sonically alive.

When Skywave dissolved after Ackermann’s move to Brooklyn, that same instinct for sonic excavation carried forward into a new phase: A Place to Bury Strangers. Here, he shifted from chasing sound to constructing it from the ground up. Through custom circuitry and his pedal effects company, Death By Audio, Ackermann learned to shape feedback, distortion, and chaos into instruments of control — pushing tones to a breaking point or deliberately collapsing them. The result became the band’s signature: a physically overwhelming wall of searing atmospherics.

Now, often described as the “loudest band in New York,” A Place to Bury Strangers revisits their origins with Rare and Deadly (April 3rd, 2026, via Dedstrange), a collection of songs that loops back into that same underground culture of exchange — an archive of accidents, fragments, and hidden gems.

Ackermann reflects on how a Slowdive rarity inadvertently burned itself into the DNA of APTBS today.

The Story: Ackermann first encountered Slowdive’s “Jazz Odeon” not as a formal release, but as a trace — a copy of a copy circulating within the shoegaze exchange culture. For years, it existed in a superposition-like state: a recording that felt both real and unreachable, with elusive sounds that had to be hunted down.

That search ended during a backpack trip through Europe, when a contact at Allison Records dubbed a mixtape of unreleased tracks for Ackermann on the spot. “I was super excited because my friends and I were always chasing down music,” he recalls. “That was one of those tracks I thought I would never be able to get any other way.”

The moment stuck. It wasn’t just about finally hearing the song — it was about the medium. Even years later, Ackermann describes it as something preserved through distortion and duplication. He later re-dubbed it onto his computer so he could DJ the song in clubs. “I still have that twisted dub,” he says. “Everything sounds better on cassette. It still blows me away — the rising and the falling of the track. Beauty and decay combined into a just beautiful, epic performance.”

For Ackermann, “Jazz Odeon” wasn’t just a rarity —it exposed how sound could exist in two states at once: immense yet fragile, soft yet crushing, distant yet intimate. That duality became central to his own approach with A Place to Bury Strangers.

“I always liked that duality,” he says. “It’s what we try to do with our live sound —overwhelming and loud, but soft like a warm blanket of static energy.”

That tension between distortion and emotion became influence and direction. “Different songs and sounds build the sonic universe I want to create in,” Ackermann explains, “and push the boundaries of what’s possible.” Those early encounters with unstable recordings ultimately led him to found Death By Audio, an effects company where he builds pedals that recreate that same unpredictability — tools for other musicians designed to craft new sonics that, if desired, can break apart in meaningful ways.

“It opened my mind to sounds I couldn’t quite place,” he notes, linking the Slowdive dub directly to his work as a sound designer. “It’s important to have that desire to go off on a journey… to see that goals lead to all sorts of other things along the way.”

Ackermann surmises that “Jazz Odeon” was as much a discovery as a threshold — the moment where the creative instinct to seek sound became permanent. “It’s an epic track,” he says. “Let the listener make up their own mind. No spoilers.”

Photo by Heather Bickford

The post A Song That Changed My Life: A Place to Bury Strangers on Slowdive’s “Jazz Odeon” first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Letterboxd, the social platform for film buffs, reportedly looking for new ownerPotential buyers of Letterboxd include Versant, the parent company of CNBC and MS NOW, and Hollywood media company The Ankler, according to Semafor.

The Challenges of 3D Printing Reliable SpringsSprings are great, but making them out of plastic tends to come with some downsides, for fairly obvious reasons. Creating a compliant mechanism that can be 3D printed and yet which doesn’t permanently deform or wear out after a few uses is therefore a bit of a struggle. The complaint toggle mechanism that [neotoy] designed is said to have addressed those issues, with the model available on Printables for anyone to give a shake.
The model in question is a toggle, which is the commonly seen plastic or metal device that clamps down on e.g. rope or cord and requires you to push on it to have it release said clamping force. Normally these use a metal spring inside, but this version is fully 3D printable and thus forms a practical way to test this particular compliant mechanism with a variety of materials.
The internal spring is a printed spiral spring, with the example in the video printed in PETG. You can of course also print it in other materials for different durability and springiness properties. As noted in the video, PLA makes for a very poor spring material, so you probably want to skip that one.
We covered compliant mechanisms in the past for purposes like blasters, including some that you can only see under a microscope.

Finneas on why a Minimoog was the perfect instrument to “encapsulate Millennial cringe” on Netflix’s Beef: “He’s not a musician and he has a $25k synth”A mid-life crisis can come in many forms. Some people sign up for marathons, others get into restoring vintage cars… and some people get really, really into Hot Chip. Netflix’s second season of BEEF shows depicts the third option, with actor Oscar Isaac embodying an amateur 40-something synth enthusiast with more money than sense.
In a new interview with the BEEF Official Podcast, Finneas O’Connell explains how the show settled on the Moog as the ultimate symbol of “Millennial cringe”. When the show composer stumbled upon a vintage $25,000 Minimoog, he was was struck by how pricy it was. Logically, he knew he could “download a plugin” instead… but someone going through an identity crisis might not realise there was a cheaper alternative.

READ MORE: I’ve finally found a pair of closed-back headphones I don’t want to EQ straight away

In season 2, actor Isaac plays the character of Josh, who manages a posh country club with “questionable spending habits”. His biggest spends come in the form of high-ticket music gear that even experienced musicians might be unwilling to splash out on, a trait that both shows how inexperienced he is, as well as how he’ll pay any price to carve out a new sense of identity.
“He bought it because he’s a big Hot Chip fan,” the musician laughs. “He’s an amateur! He only plays it a little bit… but the Moog is super expensive”

Finneas landed on Moogs while synth shopping with actor Isaac himself. When they found the right one, it felt like the perfect way of symbolising a man “someone in their 40s hanging on to the past”, trying to stay hip and young in his “man cave”.
Isaac was keen to get stuck in, even sending Finneas Moog playlists for inspiration – but the musician was a bit reluctant to teach him everything. “Oscar wanted to learn everything there is to know about Moogs,” Finneas recalls. “And I remember being like, ‘Isn’t his character supposed to be bad at the moment?’ Oscar’s kind of excellent at whatever he takes up… so I thought I shouldn’t help him at all… [his character] should just suck at the Moog.”
Despite his role requiring him to “suck” at the instrument, Finneas was often given a run for his money. Isaac would practice his purposefully ‘crude’ pieces and actually sound pretty decent. “He’d sometimes play it better than me,” Finneas jokes.
Taking over the reins from Bobby Krlic’s more “percussive”, Finneas opted for a more sampled, synth-focused approach. He found inspiration in insect noises, sprinklers and even a TikTok video of a girl harmonising with the hum of her desk fan. “I found synths that I could play and make the sound like swarms of bees,” he explains at one point. “I recorded sprinkler systems at a golf course near my house, and used those as the rhythmic component.”

The series also has plenty of other experimental usage of samples, like the stress-inducing sauna scene that mingles in the sound of dripping water throughout. In a chat with A24, Finneas adds that he is often gathering field recordings, from the buzz of florescent lights to the whirring of a washing machine. “Then I will look for an excuse to incorporate [the recording] in a way that is inherently unique,” he explains
The score also features a needle drops from elsewhere in Finneas’ career – namely Bad Guy, a track he worked on with his sister, Billie Eilish. The track plays when Finneas actually makes a cameo as “a really douchey version” of himself, and Bad Guy serves as an ironic acknowledgement of his career. “The idea that I’m working out to my own work like that, I’m producing all this music, and then I’m in the gym listening to it… I thought was so funny,” he laughs.

The post Finneas on why a Minimoog was the perfect instrument to “encapsulate Millennial cringe” on Netflix’s Beef: “He’s not a musician and he has a $25k synth” appeared first on MusicTech.

‘The road to true artist development is still a long one. Tenacity wins long-term.’Tom Rose, MD of UK-based GRAPE.VN (formerly Propeller), on radio's significance in the streaming age, the firm's pan-European promo work with RAYE, and its move to offer management, label services and more following a rebrand

Source

LALAL.AI now detects six different stem types from audio or video sources – and works entirely offlineAI-powered stem extractor LALAL.AI has had a glow up. Now, the multi-stem separation plugin can detect up to six different types of stems from any audio or video you load into it – and it works entirely offline.
While the original version only offered vocal and ‘instrumental’ stems, the latest update allows users to pick out specific instrument stems and vocal tracks. The selection includes: vocals, bass, drums, and piano stems, as well as distinctive acoustic and electric guitar stem extraction. And this is ontop of the plugin’s noise cancellation, intelligent removal of background music and vocal cleaning abilities.

READ MORE: I’ve finally found a pair of closed-back headphones I don’t want to EQ straight away

In order to extract your stems, users simply need to drop an audio file into their DAW, load up the plugin and select which stems are desired. Then, the plugin is able to instantly provide you with high-quality stems, with no limit on how many stem extractions you can perform – and it’s all done locally without the need for an internet connection, to help minimise on latency.
Last year, LALAL.AI made it on to MusicTech’s round-up of best stem separation tools. While we particularly took a shining to the plugin’s vocal separation, the new, more specific selection of instrumental stem extraction options is a game changer. It’s also upgraded to operate on Lyra, another marker of the plugin’s nifty evolution.
“Local stem separation is the future of audio production,” Nik Pogorsky, Product Owner & Co-Founder of Lalal.ai, explains, “With the launch of our six-stem VST, we are proving that the calibre of our algorithms can now live entirely on the user’s machine. We specifically engineered the Lyra model to provide professionals with the perfect equilibrium between processing speed and isolation precision. This release reflects the mission of making sophisticated AI invisible and seamlessly integrated into the daily lives of engineers and producers.”
LALAL.AI is compatible with Ableton, FL Studio, Reaper, or any other VST3-compatible DAW, and runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The plugin costs £15.99 a month, or £144 for a full year.
For more information, head to Lalal.ai.
The post LALAL.AI now detects six different stem types from audio or video sources – and works entirely offline appeared first on MusicTech.

Saelin Audio releases Shine, a FREE adaptive clarity plugin for vocals and acoustic guitar
Saelin Audio has released Shine, a free adaptive clarity plugin built for vocals and acoustic guitar. I love plugins that speed up my workflow, and this one fits that description perfectly. You drop Shine on your recording track, and it adjusts presence and air in real time based on how you’re performing, without any presets [...]
View post: Saelin Audio releases Shine, a FREE adaptive clarity plugin for vocals and acoustic guitar

Stam Audio announce the SA-4000+ Following some requests to introduce a cleaner-sounding G Series-style compressor, Stam Audio have overhauled their existing SA-4000 design with a new Modern mode.

“It’s still our quest to one day have Despacio here”: In Ibiza, Soulwax discuss the future of their famed sound systemSpeaking at International Music Summit Ibiza 2026, Soulwax revealed the history of Despacio, the sound system and event co-created by them and LCD Soundsystem‘s James Murphy, and the ambitions they have for its future.
READ MORE: Inside James Murphy and Soulwax’s Despacio – the world’s greatest sound system
“We’ve done it everywhere in the world, but it was made to be in Ibiza,” says Soulwax’s Stephen Dewaele, who is joined onstage by his brother and bandmate, David Dewaele, and interviewer Gabriel Szatan. “It’s still our quest to one day do Despacio here.”
The duo elaborated further on the Ibiza roots of Despacio during their interview at IMS Ibiza 2026, recalling how it all started from a recording session on the White Isle in the early 2010s. “When we came here to record, we brought James [Murphy] with us. And we got the idea of like, “Why don’t we make a sound system that’s really [focused on] playing music at a little slower tempo?” This idea, says David, was heavily inspired by the Balearic DJs Jean-Claude Maury and Alfredo Fiorito, and the iconic Ibiza club, Privilege.
Despacio launched at the Manchester International Festival in 2013, and quickly gained a cult following after appearances at major festivals including Sónar, Coachella, Glastonbury, Portola, and at venues such as London’s Roundhouse.
“It seemed fresh to us because it was a reaction to what we were seeing everywhere else in the world,” explains Stephen. “It was just like, a lot of big clubs with Funktion-One sound systems and seven people on the lineup — everyone would play an hour, or an hour and a half [DJ sets]. If you’re an 18-year-old kid now, and you hear about Despacio, you would say, ‘Ah, so it’s three middle-aged dudes playing vinyl back to back on an audiophile system!’ But for us, back in 2012, that was kind of the antithesis of what we were experiencing every week, and it’s amazing that there is much more awareness for [audiophile] sound and vinyl and all that stuff now.”
The impact it has now, 12 or 13 years on, is much bigger than it had in the beginning,” adds David. “When we do it now in the States, it’s a thing that people come up to us and they’ve had one of the biggest experiences of their lives, and it’s huge for them, whereas that wasn’t the case in 2012.”
Discussing the current setup for Despacio, the duo explains how Coachella and Portola, festivals run by California events brand Goldenvoice that have hosted Despacio in recent years, are now well-adapted to the sound system. “A big percentage of the people who come into Despacio end up staying for eight hours,” says Stephen, adding that the tent Goldenvoice provides is acoustically treated. “We know by now how to tune that tent to make it sound really good.”
When an audience member asked if the Despacio team are looking for a permanent place for the sound system, Soulwax expressed enthusiasm for the idea. “We would love it…I’m not going to speak for James [Murphy], but I think he would love that as well.”
Soulwax’s interview was a keynote speech at IMS Ibiza this year. The conference, which is owned by Beatport, also saw panels on the state of the electronic music business, workshops by AlphaTheta, and more interviews with artists such as Suzanne Ciani, Pete Tong, Vintage Culture and more.
The post “It’s still our quest to one day have Despacio here”: In Ibiza, Soulwax discuss the future of their famed sound system appeared first on MusicTech.

Techivation releases Tilt EQ, a FREE linear phase tilt equalizer with a Drive saturation control
Techivation has released Tilt EQ, a free linear phase tilt equalizer for macOS and Windows. Before we check out the plugin, a quick look at the download process. To get this into your DAW, you’ll need to create a free Techivation account (email and password), which also unlocks the rest of the developer’s freebies in [...]
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Alience with Sol8music

ALIENCE may speak in a novel dialect, yet its' core is still perceived as the universal language, which is music.

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