A Nostalgic Look at a Kid’s Shortwave Receiver[Mikrowave1] had a Unelco shortwave receiver as a kid. This was a typical simple radio for the 1960s using germanium and silicon transistors. It also had plug-in coils you had to insert into sockets depending on the frequency band you wanted to receive.
While simple AM radios were all the rage, they didn’t have to operate at higher frequencies. [Mikrowave1] shows some of the design tricks used to allow the radio to operate in the upper part of the spectrum. Otherwise, the radio is the usual superhet design using lower frequency germanium PNP transistors in the IF stage. You get a look inside the radio and a peek at a similar schematic along with notes on where the radio is different.
But how does it work? For an old single-conversion receiver, it works well enough. Of course, when the radio was new, there were many more interesting stations on shortwave. Today, he had to settle for some ham radio stations and CHU, the Canadian time and frequency station.
There were six pairs of coils built on top of tube sockets. The coil was actually more than a coil. There were other components in the case that adjusted other radio parameters based on the frequency.
[Mikrowave1] has been on a toy kick lately, and we’ve enjoyed it. This radio looks simple compared to the Radio Shack one that every kid wanted in the 1970s. Well. Every hacker kid, at least.

Donner unveil Essential D1 Performance Beat Machine Following its initial preview at NAMM 2023, Donner have announced that their Essential D1 Performance Beat Machine is now shipping worldwide.

Musicians struggle to profit from live shows: Survey revealsRecord-breaking concert grosses and soaring ticket prices make headlines, but a new survey finds that the resulting profits are not trickling down as most musicians struggle to profit from live shows.
The post Musicians struggle to profit from live shows: Survey reveals appeared first on Hypebot.

‘I try and stay out of business conversations. I go on my instinct and my musical taste.’MBW's World’s Greatest Producers series interviews super-producer James Ford about working with Arctic Monkeys, Blur and more
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Swedish House Mafia to perform at Will Ferrell’s house partySwedish House Mafia have found the time to squeeze a party in alongside their XS Las Vegas residency. But not just any party – the electronic trio will be attending comedian Will Ferrell’s Ultimate DJ House Party.
That’s right, the whacky Anchorman star will be hosting his very own house party on 26 October. And it’s for a vital cause; all proceeds from the Chicago affair will go towards Ferrell’s charity, Cancer for College.

READ MORE: Richie Hawtin is proving why DJs must embrace technology: “It’s about going beyond just putting two records together”

Founded 30 years ago, Cancer for College was formed by Ferrell alongside his college friend and three time cancer survivor, Craig Pollard. The charity supports cancer survivors by providing college scholarships and relieving medical debt. According to their website, Cancer for College has funded more than 1,700 scholarships to date, totaling $7 million.
In a suitably hilarious announcement video, Ferrell revealed the news that Swedish House Mafia will be performing at his Ultimate DJ House Party. ‘Mixing’ a track in a cool pair of shades, Ferrell says that “[his] band, Swedish House Mafia” will be performing – and warns that people should “be there… don’t piss these guys off.”

So, Ferrell has ‘joined’ Swedish House Mafia. And the gang have fully played into the joke too: Their Instagram profile picture is currently Ferrell’s face, confirming his role as the ‘fourth member’ of the group.
The Ultimate DJ House Party will be held at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena. So far, tickets have raised over $75,000 for Cancer for College.
We’re sure that Ferrell’s party will be a LOT more exciting than a boring Catalina Wine Mixer. So grab yourself a ticket – VIP passes are also available.

The post Swedish House Mafia to perform at Will Ferrell’s house party appeared first on MusicTech.

Certified Rare Finds are now on Splice
Learn about Rare Finds, our newest search feature on Splice Sounds that helps you find sounds that are still undiscovered by most users.

Native Instruments release Traktor Pro 4 Traktor Pro 4 now includes a stem-separation feature powered by iZotope’s RX technology, loudness processing courtesy of Ozone Maximizer, a new Pattern Player function and more. 

Traktor Pro 4 update packed with AI-powered stem separation and slick mastering toolsNative Instruments has launched Traktor Pro’s latest update – and it’s packed with innovative new features. From AI stem separation to iZotope-powered mastering, Traktor Pro 4 is here to make DJing that little bit smoother.

READ MORE: Best DJ Gear 2024: 11 best DJ software for mixing and playlisting in 2024

First up, Traktor Pro 4’s new stem separation technology allows users to isolate instrumental and vocal tracks with ease. Powered by AI and iZotope’s cleanup software, RX, the tool can provide clean, clear stems from any given track. Whether it be drum, bass or vocals, there should be no problem grabbing the stem you require.
Elsewhere, iZotope technology has also played a key role in the Ozone Maximiser. Utilising technology from iZotope’s Ozone mastering software, the Ozone Maximiser is designed to prevent distortion when boosting your tracks. So there’s no limit on volume – you’re free to pump up the jams to ear-splitting levels without compromising clarity.
The Pattern Player is also offering a slick selection of built-in drum machines and percussion kits. Kit-wise, a slew of iconic drums are available, with percussion inspired by industry legends DJ Rebekah, Luke Slater, Dubfire and more.
Traktor Pro 4 also offers flexible beatgrids to allow users to flick between genres and changing tempos with ease. The beatgrids will allow a level of precision, making it so you can follow the tempo of a track and accurately align your tracks. Traktor Pro also comes with a nifty sync feature to aid with this – and, of course, there’s no impact on quality.
The new features come ontop of Traktor Pro’s pre-existing offerings, including the customary 40+ studio-grade Native Instruments effects and wide range of EQs.
Traktor Pro 4 is currently £129. Pre-existing Traktor Pro users can upgrade for just £64.50.

The post Traktor Pro 4 update packed with AI-powered stem separation and slick mastering tools appeared first on MusicTech.

Musician Email Marketing Tips: Expand Your Audience and Engage FansCheck out these five straightforward musician email marketing tips. By implementing these techniques, musicians can expand their audience, engage more fans, and enhance their
The post Musician Email Marketing Tips: Expand Your Audience and Engage Fans appeared first on Hypebot.

Building a Record Label: Lessons from GroundUp Music’s Eric LenseEric Lense, founder of GroundUp Music, discusses his journey in building the record label from the ground up. He shares valuable insights and lessons for aspiring music entrepreneurs.
The post Building a Record Label: Lessons from GroundUp Music’s Eric Lense appeared first on Hypebot.

Focusrite update RedNet Control The latest version of RedNet Control allows PCIeNX card users to double their system's channel count.

“No Deal”: New Zealand’s ComCom denies clearance for AlphaTheta’s Serato acquisitionWe covered the initial news last year about how AlphaTheta (Pioneer DJ’s parent company) proposed a corporate acquisition of Serato Audio Research. Today, there’s been big news that might slow the deal to a halt: New Zealand’s antitrust regulatory agency, the Commerce Commission, has denied clearance for the deal. Many in the industry declared the […]
The post “No Deal”: New Zealand’s ComCom denies clearance for AlphaTheta’s Serato acquisition appeared first on DJ TechTools.

OKX exchange exiting Nigeria due to regulatory concernsThough the announcement came as a surprise to many users, OKX has been winding down features in the Nigerian market for months.

How a B2B payments startup won Max, Jack and Sam Altman, JP Morgan as investorsSlope's founders both have a background in AI, so large language models power the company’s underwriting infrastructure. 
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Digitally Reading a Micrometer’s OutputIf you’re instrumenting your machine tools, or if you’re just curious, you might want to get granular access to the output of a digital micrometer or the like. [Tommy] set his mind to figuring out the communications protocol of the ClockWise Tools dial indicator for this very purpose. And he succeeded!
Work began by finding the clock and signal lines for the gauge. With those identified, and the signals up on an AD2 logic analyzer, it was determined that once every 40 milliseconds, the device sent a data burst of six nibbles separated by 1.58 milliseconds apiece. The device communicates the absolute position of the gauge, and the data can be readily decoded with the aid of an op-amp to help boost up the 1.5-volt logic to a more reasonable level for a modern commodity microcontroller like the Arduino Nano. From there, the information can be trucked over serial to a PC, or you can do just about anything else with it besides.
We’ve seen similar hacks performed on calipers before, too, making automated measurements a breeze. If you’re working on something that needs precise measurements down to the, well… micrometer… this project might be just the thing you’re looking for.