How I Play: Johannes Brecht
We’re back with our latest How I Play guest: German artist and producer Johannes Brecht. (We’d refer to him solely as an electronic music producer, but fun fact: did you know he’s also a composer and musician with projects in jazz and contemporary classical music as well?) He recently launched his new label, 0b16a9, earlier […]
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Universal Music revenues hit $3bn in Q3, driven by sales from superstars like Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor SwiftUniversal Music Group has published its financial results for Q3 2023
Source

Apple’s Shazam adds Concerts tab, discovery powered by BandsintownApple’s Shazam has added a dedicated Concerts tab powered by show listings and ticket information from Bandsintown. The new feature is already available to users in the Shazam iOS app. Continue reading
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Apogee Electronics announce Ginger Audio partnership From 1 November 2023, Symphony I/O MkII users will be eligible for discount on Ginger Audio's Dolby Atmos monitoring software.

Torsion Audio Scyclone Scyclone is an audio plugin that utilizes neural timbre transfer technology to offer a new approach to audio production. The plugin builds upon RAVE methodology, a realtime audio variational... Read More

How to set up a Bandcamp Listening Party and why you (still) shouldDespite its recent sale and staff cutbacks, Bandcamp, for now at least, still has an audience and toolkit worth paying attention to. Brian Hazard explains from firsthand experience how beneficial. Continue reading
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50 Years of Music Industry Revenues: The Highs & LowsAn informative graphic overview of music industry revenue lows and highs broken down by format over the last half a century. by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 There are so. Continue reading
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Amex Gold Unsigned returns for a second year, with an emphasis on grassroots music venuesIn paid partnership with American Express
American Express has announced the relaunch of Amex Gold Unsigned, an initiative which helps create breakthrough opportunities for emerging artists and celebrates music of every genre.
Now in its second year, Unsigned seeks to shine a light on grassroots music venues and the role they play in nurturing and promoting emerging artists in the UK, by partnering with the iconic The Dome/Downstairs at the Dome.
As part of the initiative, Unsigned is supporting the Tufnell Park venue by collaborating with music and entertainment publications, raising awareness of the issues grassroots venues face. It is also refurbishing the venue in partnership with leading interiors contractors Willmott Dixon.
The initiative also sees a partnership with global studio network Pirate, to host a live music showcase at the venue next month (30 November), with a lineup composed of emerging music artists.
Musicians of all genres can enter their music for consideration; the submission must simply be original material, and all entrants must be UK residents over the age of 18 and not currently under contract with a record label. All submissions must be submitted by October 29. A panel of industry experts will then put together the lineup for the evening.
As a success story from last year’s Amex Gold Unsigned initiative, Nottingham-based Jazzie Martian was selected to receive a sync in Amex Gold’s TV ad. He beat hundreds of other entrants to the opportunity, and says the experience helped solidify his winning attitude towards music.
“I’ve started loving and believing more in what I’m doing as I’ve started to actually digest that winning mentality,” he told NME. “You start to go, ‘OK, yes, I’m a winner – now I wanna win’”.
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Moises’ AI Voice Studio offers a brand new model for creators to license AI vocalsMoises, the AI-powered music creation app, has launched a brand new Voice Studio which allows creators to license AI vocals.
Producers pitching songs to labels, artists, or others can use the range of voices on offer, which vary in tone, timbre, and pitch, to better convey their creative vision for their tracks.

READ MORE: Over 200 GrimesAI records now available for content creators to use on any platform

Moises uses AI to aid the creative process whilst ensuring creatives are fairly compensated. This new launch continues the company’s mission to open up voice licensing possibilities with the use of AI, and to enhance the creative process while still benefiting rights holders.
AI Voice Studio is described as “a new marketplace model for AI-powered voice modelling,” providing an opportunity for vocalists to earn revenue by licensing their own voice models to other producers and content creators.
The new studio launches with 11 professional voices and is set to expand. Moises’ AI-powered voice modelling tool transforms a creator’s voice into that of any singer in its library. As Moises explains in a press release, video and audio production companies who are short on time can create demos or content for clients with a fast turn around by utilising the tool, saving the vocal talent hiring process for later.
The new studio offers an “artist-centric” approach to using AI-emulated vocals responsibly, as it creates new monetisation opportunities for vocalists while adding a modern music creation solution to the producer’s toolbox.

“There are so many incredible singers in the world who fly under the radar. Moises has developed a new business model that empowers these artists to extend their reach to a broader market of creators who want to augment and filter their own singing,” explains Geraldo Ramos, Moises CEO. “We are excited to provide a new revenue stream for these talented vocalists.”
Find out more over at Moises.
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FL Studio 21.2 “major” update introduces Stem Separation and FL CloudImage-Line has today (25 October) launched a “major” FL Studio 21.2 update, which introduces new features for better creative flow.
Along with this latest launch comes the arrival of FL Cloud, a new service which offers access to a library of royalty-free loops, exclusive Artist Packs, unlimited AI-powered mastering, and music distribution to all major streaming platforms powered by DistroKid.

READ MORE: The PolyPulse is a new “unconventional standalone performance workstation”

Included in the update is a Stem Separation feature (as we previously reported on when it was rumoured back in September) meaning users can now extract individual instrument and vocal tracks from any audio source within the DAW. A new Kepler vintage synthesiser and an enhanced coloured waveform feature have also arrived.
This new update is available now for free for existing FL Studio users. FL Cloud includes free features for all users, with additional features available through subscription. Subscribers can choose between paying $7.99 monthly or $79.99 annually, and an introductory annual subscription price of $49.99 is currently running for a limited time only.
Any new or existing FL Studio user will also receive a free one-month FL Cloud Trial subscription. Users can also buy Credit Packs for subscription-free access to sounds not available as part of the free FL Cloud features.
“FL Studio is the central music production platform for millions of music makers. With the introduction of FL Cloud we want to provide them with everything they need to create and share their music, all deeply integrated into the beloved FL Studio workflow,” says Constantin Koehncke, CEO of Image-Line.
“Our mission is to make music production accessible, productive, and fun, and we will continue to add tools and features to help our users achieve their creative goals. Importantly, cloud-based features do not affect our core promise of outright purchase of FL Studio with Lifetime Free Updates or our commitment to providing new features to FL Studio itself. With FL Cloud, all users benefit from free features, a generous introductory offer, and extremely competitive pricing.”
Matthew Ogle, Chief Product Officer at DistroKid also adds, “We are always looking for new ways to make it easier for artists to release their music. Having DistroKid integrated into artists’ workflow within FL Studio, and giving them the option to upload music to streaming services directly from their DAW, provides the kind of seamless experience that we always strive for at DistroKid.”
Find out more over at FL Studio.
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Wasted Audio Releases 3 FREE Distortion Plugins
Wasted Audio releases three freeware distortion plugins for Windows, macOS, and Linux. As you may know, I have professed my love for distortion here time and time again. With that in mind, we will be focusing today’s coverage on Wasted Audio‘s latest distortion plugins. The main attention will be given to the three freebies, however, [...]
View post: Wasted Audio Releases 3 FREE Distortion Plugins

Audeze Maxwell gains Head Tracking support Thanks to a significant firmware update, Audeze's Maxwell gaming headset now offers head tracking capabilities when paired with the Dolby Atmos Renderer application.

Daft Punk rep shuts down Paris 2024 Olympics reunion rumourFans who have gotten their hopes up for a Daft Punk reunion might want to know that the robots will, in fact, not be reuniting for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“This is a rumour and not true,” a representative for the band told Rolling Stone after speculations reached a fever pitch.

READ MORE: How CRSSD Festival is using synths to transform electronic music fans into producers

Earlier this week, Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the Olympics’ opening ceremony said on the French public radio channel France Inter: “It would be very happy if they were in this ceremony.”
“We can’t not think about it,” he added.
At the end of the interview though, Jolly admitted that he had “lied a little about Daft Punk.”
Despite the clarification, rumours of a reunion soon went flying following a report by French newspaper Le Parisien, which cited an anonymous source saying the pair had met with the Olympic planning committee “several months ago.”
In a new statement on X, Jolly wrote [translated from French]: “My comments were confusing and generated a lot of expectations. I must clarify: After discussing a possible presence at the ceremony, the group’s decision is not to participate.”
“I respect this decision and apologise for the ambiguity of my comments.”

Mes propos ont été confus et ont généré beaucoup d’attentes.Je me dois de clarifier : Après avoir échangé sur une possible presence à la cérémonie, la décision du groupe est de ne pas y participer.
Je respecte cette décision et m’excuse de l’ambiguïté de mes propos. https://t.co/W02RwzTIzI
— Thomas JOlly (@Thomajolly) October 25, 2023

Since the electronic duo’s split in 2021, fans have been clamouring for members Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo to don their robot helmets one more time.
While we wait, Daft Punk has released a 10-Year anniversary edition of their iconic Random Access Memories featuring 9 new tracks — or 35 minutes of new music.
As part of the anniversary celebrations, the band has also unveiled “Memory Tapes,” a look back at the album’s creation by collaborators including Julian Casablancas, Chilly Gonzales, Pharrell and most recently, Nile Rodgers.

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Spotify’s new royalty model requires a minimum number of streams before you can get paidSpotify has announced significant changes to its royalty payout model in a bid to combat “drains on the royalty pool” that are said to be preventing money from going to working artists.
According to Music Business Worldwide, these changes – which take effect from early 2024 – include introducing a new threshold of minimum annual streams before a track can start generating royalties; financial penalties for music distributors and labels to deter fraudulent activity on the platform; and introducing a minimum play-time length that non-music noise tracks like ambient sounds and binaural beats must reach to generate royalties.

READ MORE: London’s E1 club integrates cutting-edge track identification technology to boost artist earnings

While the exact number of minimum streams required isn’t specified, a source reportedly told Music Business Worldwide that the goal is to “[demonetize] a population of tracks” that earn “less than five cents per month” on average. Currently, each play on Spotify generates about USD $0.003 per month.
A quick calculation would suggest that for a track to generate $0.05 per month in royalties, it would need to be streamed 17 times a month, or around 200 plays a year. While the threshold may appear modest, these “micro-payments” quickly add up given that over 100,000 new tracks are uploaded daily to digital service providers (DSPs), says MBW.
The money saved will go back into Spotify’s ‘Streamshare’ royalty pot and be re-distributed to artists with the more popular tracks.
2024 will also see Spotify cracking down on fraud with a “per-track enforcement penalty whenever flagrant artificial streaming is detected”. For now, fraudsters only have their tracks taken down when they get caught. The move will hopefully help deter such activity from bad actors and distributors enabling those bad actors.
And finally, the third change affects makers of ‘non-music noise content’ who often game the system by splitting their ‘noise’ playlists into 31-second tracks (the minimum length to qualify for Spotify monetisation).
Upping the minimum play-time length for monetisation will thus lead to fewer of these streams, which in turn means more money in the ‘Streamshare’ system going back to music content, a source tells the publication.
Under the new plan, Spotify hopes to move USD $1 billion in royalty payments over the next few years to “legitimate” artists and rights holders.
The move comes just a month after Deezer and Universal Music announced that they will be stopping payouts for non-music content (e.g. white noise) under their new “artist-centric” model. Artists with less than 500 unique monthly listeners or fewer than 1,000 streams on Deezer will also get paid less per stream than other creators.
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Minimal Audio’s Current might just be your new favourite synth$200 (perpetual licence), minimal.audio
$15/month, $120/year (rent-to-own, with access to all Minimal Audio plugins, updates and sound packs)
Minimal Audio kicked up quite the fuss in the industry upon announcing Current, its new flagship synth. The American company is best known for its feature-rich effects plugins primed for creative sound design but has turned its attention to sound creation, with a tremendous synth that includes multiple synthesis types, some exceptional effects, and a built-in cloud preset system. It’s not a cheap investment – as potential buyers quickly found out – but the high sound quality and flexible feature set make it more than a match for the competition.

READ MORE: Cherry Audio Harmonia – a multi-talented synth that makes harmonic scanning a breeze

Rocky start
Minimal Audio initially launched the synth as a subscription-only model. This decision was unanimously met with widespread negativity online, with many referencing the infamous subscription proposal made by Waves earlier this year. Thankfully, the company made a swift U-turn, apologised, and is now offering the synth as either a perpetual licence for $200, or as part of a rent-to-own scheme that also includes all of Minimal Audio’s other effects plugins, plus an expanding collection of samples, presets and wavetables.
These extras are accessed via a section of Current called The Stream, which doubles up as the instrument’s browser. You have tabs for presets, wavetables and sounds where you can preview, download and load individual files or entire packs. You can also switch between listing the files available on the cloud or on the local hard drive, and use a tagging system to search and favourite particular presets. It remains to be seen how this page will function in the upcoming perpetual version, but the company has said that you will be able to purchase additional packs as needed, so the functionality will probably remain largely the same.

Start your engines
Moving on to the main sound engines, you have two wavetable oscillators, a granular engine, a flexible sub-oscillator, and a sampler. Editing controls for each are fairly extensive, so we can’t list them all, but they strike a strong balance of being incredibly flexible but not totally overwhelming.
The wavetable oscillators have main controls for scanning Position, Pitch and Spectral, with the latter two offering around 20 different modes each that can dramatically change the resulting sound. There’s also a fat-sounding unison option with up to 16 voices and detune. Anyone who’s used a wavetable synth such as Xfer’s Serum will know what to expect here, as this type of synthesis is prime for patches that have movement such as neurofunk and d‘n’b basses, or evolving pads.
The granular engine is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch; it’ll let you load any sample and turn it into something beautiful and mysterious. You can choose up to eight layers of grains that dance around the playhead of the sample, and then edit the playback to loop and move in a multitude of ways. These can be synced to the DAW or move freely, and you can add stereo offset to create a nice, wide sound.
The excellent visual feedback helps to understanding which parts of the sample are being triggered, as different dots, lines and regions sweep across the waveform. It’s quick and fairly easy to get interesting results, no matter what audio you throw at it.
Minimal Audio Current granular engine
Sub level
Current’s impressive sub-oscillator is much more than a mere simple waveform. It generates a root note and then gives you the option to add up to eight partials to shape the sound and help it sit perfectly in the mix. You can tilt the harmonics and add subtle pitch dive, modulated detune, and six flavours of saturation.
It’s clear that Minimal Audio has thought carefully about how this oscillator can interact with the rest of the synth, with options to bypass the effects section for the sub, and to remove the fundamental from the wavetable oscillators to make space. You can also engage sub lock, which means the sub will play the same low octave, no matter how high up the keyboard you go. This is a great feature for basslines with a lot of movement up the keyboard, as you can dance around with different octaves using the other oscillators, whilst retaining a solid low-end.
The final oscillator is the sampler, which doesn’t do anything especially fancy, but is a nice option for adding more organic sounds or drums to your palette. It has options for looping, triggering and reversing, and can be run in classic Repitch mode, or in Flex mode with three time-stretching algorithms. There’s also a tab that shows frequency and amplitude modulation options for all five of the sound sources.
Minimal Audio Current wavetable oscillator
Make it move
All of the sources can be routed to the two filters, with a whopping 59 modes, a stereo offset, and the ability to run in series or parallel. The modes include various formant, comb, phaser and morphing settings that can dramatically alter the sound in interesting ways. And all of these oscillators and filters can be modulated via nine modulation slots to further shape your sound.
For each of the nine slots, you can choose from an AHDSR envelope with slopes, a simple LFO with a cool randomise function that can change with every repeat, a comprehensive curve editor for more complex sequences, and an envelope follower. There’s also an additional envelope that’s hard-wired to the amp.
Nine modulators should be enough for most preset building tasks, although some more hardcore sound designers may wish for a few more. To use them, you simply drag and drop to your control of choice and then adjust the ring that appears. You also have keyboard mod sources like keytracking, velocity and pitch bend, plus MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) controls to help make your patches nice and reactive, and four assignable macros on the side of the user interface.
50 shades of grey
Speaking of which, the plugin screen is clean with useful visual feedback, but the commitment to a grey and purple colour scheme can make it feel a touch flat. You get a splash of colour when you select a modulator which highlights yellow along with a yellow ring to show the destination, but it feels like the more colourful mod system of something like the brand’s own Rift might have made it slightly easier to chase sources and destinations. That said, it’s possible they didn’t want it to look too similar to Vital and Pigments, two competing soft-synths.
The final part of the main page is the keyboard at the bottom, where you can select a key for your track, along with mono, legato and glide options. There’s also a comprehensive chord mode with plenty of presets and a strum function, plus a decent arpeggiator with multiple playback modes and preset sequences. It’s a useful feature to have these built-in and the chord presets are especially welcome to help with inspiration. You can also rearrange their order to give different playback results.
Minimal Audio Current chords
Finishing touch
We’ve saved the best for last: Current comes with an exceptional set of built-in effects that are essentially Minimal Audio’s separate plugins, reshaped to work inside the synth. These include Rift Distortion, Cluster Delay, Morph EQ and Fuse Compressor, plus an extra filter and new algorithms for chorus, phaser, and reverb.
It’s fairly customary to use separate effect plugins when building synth parts into a track, as most built-in effects don’t quite cut it. Not so here though, as these are essentially full plugins (each worth $49) with extensive options that can be used and rearranged across nine effects slots. To get a slightly better idea of what’s on offer, read our review of Rift and Morph EQ. Suffice to say, they’re all excellent sound-shaping tools, with some useful additions like built-in ducking on the delay and reverb effects.
Put to the test, we find it especially effective using Morph EQ to control resonances in a bass sound, and then to modulate its position using the key tracking so that you retain the perfect sound at different notes. We then use the Fuse multiband compressor (which is a little like Xfer’s OTT) to help get a balanced, upfront, and professional-sounding patch that doesn’t require any further processing. The extra bonus here is that you can use all the built-in modulation options to add movement to the effects, creating some pretty wild results. In fact, it would be great if Minimal Audio could open up the sidechain input of the plugin so you could use the effects rack on external audio sources. Also of interest, is the fact that the company has said that it will be adding more effects in the future.
Minimal Audio Current The Stream cloud-connected platform
A new contender
Current is a highly flexible synth with well-designed sound sources and a superb effects section that makes it stand out from the competition. Although, this comes at the cost of fairly high CPU usage, especially if you run it at 4x oversampling. It might not be the synth you reach for more analogue-type sounds, but it does cinematic and modern, complex electronic sounds incredibly well.
Given the synth’s complexity, it would be helpful if the developers could add some explanations and tips when you hover over each element, and as Ian from the Alckemy Neuro YouTube channel suggests, it might be useful to have some sort of wavetable editor built-in. These things aside, it’s an exciting new contender in the synth arena.
Key features

Hybrid virtual instrument with effects suite and cloud content platform
Sound Engines: Wavetable; Granular; Sub; Sampler; Filter; FM/AM
Modulation: AHDSR, LFO, curve, follow, MIDI and MPE
MIDI Effects: Keyboard; chord; arpeggiator
Effects Rack: Rift Distortion; Flex Chorus; Fuse Compressor; Cluster Delay; Morph EQ; Hybrid Filter; Ripple Phaser; Swarm Reverb
The Stream cloud-connected content browser for presets, wavetables and samples
New royalty-free content added every month
30-day free trial

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