MONSTER Sax Is A Free Saxophone Virtual Instrument
Agus Hardiman releases MONSTER Sax, a free saxophone virtual instrument for Windows and macOS. Who doesn’t love a good saxophone in their arsenal of tricks? If you’ve been looking for a touch of soulful saxophone playing in your next production, then MONSTER Sax has you covered. MONSTER Sax is a free sampler instrument VST with [...]
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Korg announce microKORG Crystal & ARP 2600 FS return Korg have announced a special edition instrument that celebrates the 20th anniverary of their popular microKORG, as well as a limited run of the ARP 2600 FS.

AIR Music Technology Stage Piano A NATURALLY EXPRESSIVE PIANO Instrument PLUGIN Brilliant Multi-Layer Sampled Pianos with Nuanced Articulation!: Four world-class piano sample sets captured from the Yamaha... Read More

Elon Musk teases free Tesla FSD trial in North AmericaTesla CEO Elon Musk has laid out a rough plan for expanding access to Full Self-Driving (FSD), the company’s advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), throughout North America and the rest of the world.
“Once FSD is super smooth (not just safe), we will roll out a free month trial for all cars in North America,” Musk tweeted Monday. “Then extend to rest of world after we ensure it works well on local roads and regulators approve it in that country.”
Despite what its name suggests, FSD does not actually allow a car to drive itself fully. The newest version of the beta software automates some driving tasks on both highways and city streets, but it still requires the driver to stay alert and take over control of the vehicle at any time.
Musk did not provide a specific timeline for extending access to FSD beyond North America, where the $15,000 add-on has been available to “anyone who requests it” since November. Nor did the executive elaborate on why Tesla would roll out a free one-month trial for all Tesla vehicles on the continent, but the reason is likely twofold.
FSD, which is powered by deep neural networks, is technically still in the beta stage. That means it requires reams of data to train and improve. By rolling FSD out to every Tesla in North America, even if it’s just for one month, the automaker can collect another hefty chunk of driving data while simultaneously drumming up hype for the software and its capabilities — the Tesla equivalent of giving out a free taste of ice cream to get you to buy a scoop.
“We test as much as possible in simulation and with [quality assurance] drivers, but reality is vastly more complex,” Musk tweeted over the weekend, alongside news that the latest version of FSD would ship to Tesla employees this week.
The executive also teased capabilities for the next version of FSD, which Musk said would have “end-to-end AI.”
Outside of North America, Tesla has been limited in its ability to give drivers access to FSD due to stricter regulations. Drivers only have access to Autopilot, Tesla’s standard ADAS, which includes features like automatic steering within a lane, automatic braking and automatic navigation to highway on- and off-ramps, but it’s a dialed-back version. FSD is still not yet allowed on public roads.
However, there have been some moves over the last month by the European Commission to speed up regulation on ADAS. The Commission aims to have new regulation submitted in full by September 2024, with the option available both for an earlier deadline and for pre-deployment testing of systems.
Meanwhile in Asian markets like China, where Tesla Autopilot is available to drivers, there have been recent reports that the automaker will soon begin large-scale FSD testing.
The potential widespread rollout comes as FSD and Autopilot have gotten the automaker into hot water in recent years. The systems have been the subject of numerous lawsuits and federal investigations, including a criminal investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice. The family of an Apple engineer who died in a car crash while Autopilot was allegedly activated is currently underway, and Musk will likely have to take the stand to defend comments he made about the capabilities of the system.

Tesla pauses rollout of Full Self-Driving beta software

Elon Musk teases free Tesla FSD trial in North America by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Crypto platform Bittrex files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following SEC chargesThe firm estimated it had more than 100,000 creditors, between $500 million and $1 billion in assets, and between $500 million and $1 billion in liabilities.

The Legal Beat: Nickelback Prevails In Copyright Case Over “Rockstar”In the never ending torrent of copyright cases involving the music industry, a judge recently dismissed a claim filed against Canadian rock band Nickelback and their music publisher, Warner Chappell Music Inc. The lawsuit asserted that Nickelback copied its 2005 hit “Rockstar” from an earlier 2001 tune similarly entitled “Rock Star” by a Texas group called Snowblind Revival. The lead singer of Snowblind Revival, Kirk Johnson, wrote the song. He claimed the Nickelback song had misappropriated substantial portions of his song, including the “tempo, song form, melodic structure, harmonic structures and lyrical themes.” 

Federal magistrate judges handle certain matters for district court judges. In this case Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower recommended that the lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice. Judge Robert Pitman of the US District Court agreed and dismissed the case.

Judge Pitman held the songs just do not sound similar, ruling that “Simply stated, they do not sound alike…Where both songs evoke similar themes, they are rendered dissimilar through the vivid detail of the original expression in Nickelback’s lyrics.”

Lead singer Kirk Johnson of Snowblind Revival claimed the songs had many similar lyrics about making lots of money, lifestyles of rock stars and having well known friends.  However, Judge Pitman held that after reviewing the subject lyrics, that contention at times “borders on the absurd.” The judge noted:

“This includes, for example, any suggestion that the two baseball analogies in Nickelback’s work are evidence that the band copied Johnston’s lyrics ‘might buy the Cowboys’ professional football team simply because both are ‘references to sports’”.

Judge Pitman ruled that the only real similarities were basic clichés “outlandish stereotypes and images associated with being a huge, famous rock star” that do not belong to any songwriter. The judge referred to 17 other songs that had similar themes about rock stars, such as the 1966 hit by the Byrds  “So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll star” or Poison’s 2001 song “Rockstar.”

Judge Pitman agreed with the magistrate judge who  held that Johnston’s contention that Nickelback had access to the song via third parties was “purely speculative.” 

Judge Pitman ruled that the plaintiff had failed to prove that Nickelback had “access” to his song which is a requirement in a typical copyright infringement case. The judge held that the plaintiff failed to provide evidence that Nickelback had ever heard his song. If a plaintiff cannot prove access then he or she would have to prove that the two songs were “strikingly similar”, a much higher standard than if one can prove access.

The judge concluded “The court has conducted a side-by-side examination of the works, carefully listening to and considering all versions of the songs or record… As an ‘ordinary listener’, the court concludes that a layman would not consider the songs or even their ‘hooks’ to be strikingly similar.”

GSi Model D6 GSi Model D6 is a physical modeling emulation of a Hohner Clavinet D6. Instrument background. It was back in the fifties when German inventor Ernst Zacharias invented... Read More

Lauren Wirtzer-Seawood, SoundCloud’s Chief Content and Marketing Officer, exits companyWirtzer-Seawood joined SoundCloud in June 2021, hired by then-CEO, Michael Weismann
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SoundCloud’s new ‘Fans’ tool lets artists DM their superfansFans is currently in beta with over 10,000 artists, including Warner Music Group artists
Source

Are TuneCore, CD Baby, DistroKid & Symphonic blocking AI Music?Music created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes in almost infinite forms, from light-touch songwriting aids to full-blown “Fake Drake” style deep fake tracks. At a time when AI is the. Continue reading
The post Are TuneCore, CD Baby, DistroKid & Symphonic blocking AI Music? appeared first on Hypebot.

Live streams won’t steal ticket sales, but social just might [MIDiA’s Tatiana Cirisano]TikTok live streamers have been erasing the exclusivity of in-person concerts, is this going to boost or hurt the live music industry? by Tatiana Cirisano of MIDiA Research Frank Ocean’s. Continue reading
The post Live streams won’t steal ticket sales, but social just might [MIDiA’s Tatiana Cirisano] appeared first on Hypebot.

This AI music ‘spawning’ demo is mind-blowing [MUST WATCH]Imagine using AI to “re-record” a song in multiple languages. What if vocal range were no longer a barrier to creation? The practice that makes both possible is called spawning,. Continue reading
The post This AI music ‘spawning’ demo is mind-blowing [MUST WATCH] appeared first on Hypebot.

Arturia Tape MELLO-FI For FREE With Loopcloud Trial
Download Arturia’s Tape MELLO-FI for free when you take a 14-day Loopcloud trial in May 2023. Arturia’s Tape MELLO-FI is a lo-fi effect plugin that adds instant retro vibes to your project. You can use it on pretty much any instrument or vocals or give your entire mix some vintage character. You can grab the [...]
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Fugue State Audio Screenfield Screenfield is a Decent Sampler instrument based on a tuned and resynthesized recording of EMF from an LCD monitor, recorded with pickup coils. Read More

Persona and Index Ventures talk identity, and identifying a good dealIdentity management used to mean making sure you had your driver’s license when you left the house, but these days it’s not so easy: Identity fundamentally underpins how we engage with the digital world, and identity services can take on many forms (and, unfortunately, abuses). I’m excited to host a TechCrunch Live event with Persona co-founder and CEO Rick Song, one of the early movers in the space, about how his company identified ID management as an opportunity.
This TechCrunch Live event takes place on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. PDT. Register here for Hopin access, where viewers can ask questions and network with other attendees.
Along with Rick, Index Venture’s Mark Goldberg is speaking at the event, too. Mark made a prescient move to spot and back Persona during its Series B fundraise and backed the company again for its $150 million Series C.
Rick Song co-founded Persona with Charles Yeh in 2018, and according to PitchBook, the company’s valuation is $1.5 billion as of Persona’s Series C in 2021. Since its founding, the company’s goal has remained the same: provide users with a verification system to protect and secure identity from theft and fraud. The company raised a Series B in 2021 after seeing revenues jump 20x while users increased 5x. In late 2022, Persona introduced new services, expanding beyond identify verification with the launch of à la carte tools, including a risk assessment engine, an identity workflow tool, a graph database aimed at link analysis and fraud detection, and a marketplace for external developers to help connect their business tools to Persona’s identity tools.
I hope you can join this TechCrunch Live event. Rick and Mark are set to provide actionable insights on how companies can better protect users, and how founders, building such services, can stand out among their competitors.
REGISTER HERE FOR FREE
Persona and Index Ventures talk identity, and identifying a good deal by Matt Burns originally published on TechCrunch