Ari Herstand on Spotify royalty debate: ‘Reverse Robin Hood’Artist advocate and musician Ari Herstand has jumped into the Spotify royalty debate which began on Hypebot earlier this week. "It’s disgraceful and slapped every emerging, independent artist in the face with this backwards policy," wrote Herstand.
The post Ari Herstand on Spotify royalty debate: ‘Reverse Robin Hood’ appeared first on Hypebot.

From Deezer’s fight against AI music to Charles Goldstuck’s $500m raise… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
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Scaler 3 is packed with music theory power, but is it still too niche?$99 ($79 introductory price until 30th May)
scalermusic.com
Scaler 3 is the most advanced chord progression generator on the market, but it’s far more than just that. It’s a complete platform for creating and editing MIDI parts.

READ MORE: Best free plugins: free drum machines that’ll help you make beats faster

Scaler can now be used as a standalone creative app with support for your plugin instruments and effects. The newly redesigned interface is divided into three main sections. First, the Browser tab lets you explore templates, chord sets, and scales, while the Create tab gives you access to the deeper features for creating chord progressions. Finally, the Arrange tab lets you sequence and edit each chord region and choose instruments and effects in the mixer. With this three-pronged approach, you have a wide range of tools for creating compositional elements from scratch or using existing audio or MIDI as a reference point.
If you’re a beginner looking to improve your music theory, Scaler is an incredible tool to help you learn as you go. With the range of 860 chord sets and 929 motions to choose from, you can explore chord progressions in different genres and moods to find out what resonates with you creatively.
Explore. Image: Press
How do I start using Scaler 3 in my music-making process?
While Scaler 3 presents you with a prescribed workflow, moving from browsing presets to exploring chord possibilities, and on to arrangement, you don’t have to follow this to the letter to get decent results. Naturally, you’ll want to investigate everything that’s on offer at first, but ultimately, you’ll develop a collection of favourite tools you regularly rely upon to help you create chord progressions, melodies, and basslines.
To get an instant idea of what Scaler is capable of, I start by selecting one of the templates from the main presets browser. As the template loads, Scaler 3 immediately takes me to the arranger, where I can see chords and MIDI data on the main track, the bass track, the chord follow track, and the melody tracks.
As I select each arranger track, the corresponding voicing settings, as well as the mixer and MIDI editor, appear on the tab below. The standard sounds are rather General MIDI-esque, but each mixer track allows you to replace instruments with ones from your own plugin library as well as a chain of effects plugins on each channel, including the master output bus.
Scaler can also be used as your primary MIDI generation tool. This way, you can make use of the wealth of scales and progressions accessed in the Browser tab. Selecting a scale is intuitive, as you have a small keyboard and a list of modes and moods to help you filter the main list of scales below.
Arrange. Image: Press
The keyboard is extremely useful for beginners, as you can select notes to find a scale to work in. For instance, if I create a bassline using the notes G, A, C, and D, and need some help building a moody chord progression around it, I can input the notes on the scale browser’s keyboard and select ‘Dark’ from the mood list.
Instantly, a single search result reveals a Dorian b5, a mysterious-sounding scale I would never have discovered without Scaler’s help. As I select the scale in the Current Scale tab, it immediately reveals the chord degrees (numbered I to VII) that can be edited and transferred to the Main Track, or even dragged onto a DAW channel.
Although Scaler’s functionality adds value to your DAW workflow, there are a few areas where it falls short as a standalone app. Without audio recording or music notation, there will still be professional composers and producers who see Scaler as a luxury rather than a necessity. Having access to your plugin library is an impressive feature, but on the still-to-be-released iOS version of Scaler 3, for example, you will be limited to the availability of plugins on your iOS device.
Circle of fifths. Image: Press
What deeper features does Scaler 3 offer?
You’ll notice that, as you add chords to the main track, you can use the lightbulb to help you out when you get stuck. Let’s say you’ve got the first two chords of your progression down, but you’re looking for something less ordinary for the third; the Suggest window can give you a range of results, either based on the tonal input or the specific scale you’ve selected.
Once you move from the Browser to the Create tab, the fun can truly begin. Here, you’ll find five sub-tabs that allow you to access Scaler’s more advanced features. With the first tab, you can access chord suggestions based on the circle of fifths. Meanwhile, the next tab provides you with extensive chord modulation options, taking you deeper into music theory than you may have gone before.
The Explore tab within the Create section is refreshingly straightforward, and this is where I got the most instant gratification personally. With nothing more than a few clicks around the chord wheel, I immediately stumbled upon some really interesting chords. Next, the Colors tab presents a range of different voicing variations, while the Sketch area lets me match progressions with different phasings and articulations in the Motions library to bring them to life.
Plugin instrument list. Image: Press
Who actually needs Scaler 3?
If you make music professionally as a pop producer or film composer, your ability to diversify your creative output is crucial in your career. Over time, using Scaler 3 will sharpen your skills and give you a deeper understanding of chord progressions and music theory in general. Even a music theory savant will find features that are too convenient to avoid using.
Sure, there may be some limitations as a standalone tool, with the absence of both audio recording and staff notation. However, the undeniable ability to dive so deeply into chord theory as a keyboardist, guitarist, or MPC button-basher makes Scaler 3 the best option in its class for music production. Even if you only use it as a musical mood board, you’re bound to come up with interesting chords and have plenty of fun doing it.
At $99, Scaler 3 fits in right next to Mixed In Key’s Captain plugin bundle with a relatively similar scope, although MIK software is focused towards the EDM world. However, if you’re only looking for chord generation without all the music theory, there are more affordable options like EVAbeat Melody Sauce 2 and Audiomodern Chordjam that offer instantly gratifying results.
No matter how you make your music, it’s important to note that until you master a tool like Scaler and it becomes a seamless part of the machine, it remains an additional step in the creative process. While most users will find the music theory aspects a little archaic, this side of Scaler will be particularly worthwhile for those making a career in commercial music composition for advertising, motion pictures, and games.

Key features

Standalone app and AU/VST/AAX plugin for MacOS and Windows
Instrument and effects plugin support
Keyboard or guitar orientated workflows
MIDI arrangement and editing
Advanced chord modulation features
Extensive Motions library

The post Scaler 3 is packed with music theory power, but is it still too niche? appeared first on MusicTech.

UJAM introduce Cinedream UJAM’s latest offering combines the realism and playability of their popular Virtual Guitarist series with the more cinematic focus of their Symphonic Elements collection.

Dead Robot DR Spec Ref v1https://youtu.be/PvbAa6Oxg44 Spec Ref v1 is a new handy little mid/side spectrum analyzer plugin for windows and mac, which lets you see the mid and side channels of any incoming signal. there are also spectrum reference overlays, created from the combined frequency spectrums of the loudest sections of my own released albums, which allow you to use them as a helpful mixing guide when finalizing your music. Main Features. - Mid / Side focus button to toggle between mid and side channel spectrums. - 7 Spectrum Color choices (Purple/Teal, Purple, Red, Pink, Teal, Blue, Green). - 8 Reference Overlays (7 Albums Combined, Alchemyths, Beyond The Void, Fear As The Fire Grows, The Lightkeeper, Primal Fire, Sanctuary, & Transference). in addition to using my own album overlays, i recommend playing your favorite mixed and mastered songs (dl or buy the highest quality you can find!!) through the plugin for a little while to get acclimated to how well-mixed music should look visually. Read More

Ramp is trying to get the US government as a customer after seeing a tweet from DOGEExpense management startup Ramp is being considered for a charge card pilot program by the U.S. government’s General Services Administration, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday. The government’s internal expense card program, dubbed SmartPay, is a $700 billion program. It is estimated that the charge card pilot program contract for which Ramp is being […]

Designing an FM Drum Synth from ScratchHow it started: a simple repair job on a Roland drum machine. How it ended: a scratch-built FM drum synth module that’s completely analog, and completely cool.
[Moritz Klein]’s journey down the analog drum machine rabbit hole started with a Roland TR-909, a hybrid drum machine from the mid-80s that combined sampled sounds with analog synthesis. The unit [Moritz] picked up was having trouble with the decay on the kick drum, so he spread out the gloriously detailed schematic and got to work. He breadboarded a few sections of the kick drum circuit to aid troubleshooting, but one thing led to another and he was soon in new territory.
The video below is on the longish side, with the first third or so dedicated to recreating the circuits used to create the 909’s iconic sound, slightly modifying some of them to simplify construction. Like the schematic that started the whole thing, this section of the video is jam-packed with goodness, too much to detail here. But a few of the gems that caught our eye were the voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA) circuit that seems to make appearances in multiple places in the circuit, and the dead-simple wave-shaper circuit, which takes some of the harmonics out of the triangle wave oscillator’s output with just a couple of diodes and some resistors.
Once the 909’s kick and toms section had been breadboarded, [Moritz] turned his attention to adding something Roland hadn’t included: frequency modulation. He did this by adding a second, lower-frequency voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and using that to modulate the drum section. That resulted in a weird, metallic sound that can be tuned to imitate anything from a steel drum to a bell. He also added a hi-hat and cymbal section by mixing the square wave outputs on the VCOs through a funky XOR gate made from discrete components and a high-pass filter.
There’s a lot of information packed into this video, and by breaking everything down into small, simple blocks, [Moritz] makes it easy to understand analog synths and the circuits behind them.

Knobula launch the Monumatic Kobula's new Monumatic module comes equipped with 16 selectable oscillator modes, with its collection of virtual-analogue algorithms covering a wealth of classic and modern sounds.

Native Instruments has partnered with DJ Mustard on some ultra-limited gear – here’s how you can enter to win itLast weekend, American producer and DJ Mustard showcased his limited-edition Native Instruments Maschine MK3 and Kontrol S49 on the Coachella stage. Native Instruments created the gear exclusively for Mustard – but one other set exists, and it’s up for grabs.
An exclusive giveaway could see you winning your very own NI x Mustard limited-edition gear. All you have to do is enter on Native Instruments’ website, and the ultra-rare Maschine MK3 and Kontrol S49 instruments could be yours.

READ MORE: Best free plugins: free synths that you didn’t know you needed

The Maschine MK3 is a top-tier sampler and drum machine, boasting two high-res RGB colour displays for precision sample slicing, sound tweaking and more. It also comes with 25 pro-quality effects, including filter, EQ, delay, reverb and compressor. There’s also 16 pads sensitive pads for precise two-handed drumming, as well as touch-sensitive knobs to toy with parameter.
In terms of the Kontrol S49, we awarded it 9/10 in 2023. The keyboard is particularly impressive in terms of how tactile customisable it is; the Kontrol S49 is the “ultimate controller” for instruments, effects, controlling your DAW or doing entirely computer-free when in MIDI mode.
DJ Mustard (or, as Kendrick Lamar would refer to him, MUSTAAAAAAAARD!) had an incredibly successful 2024. It saw him picking up multiple awards for his production work, including five Grammys for the pivotal Not Like Us. Performing at Coachella with some fresh Native Instruments custom gear is surely a sign that 2025 will be equally as fulfilling.

Speaking on the collaboration, Mustard says: “It’s an honour to team up with Native Instruments on this. Maschine and the Kontrol S49 are powerful tools I’ve always respected – they make it easy to get ideas down fast and add real musicality.”
While Mustard has since “broken in” his gear for Coachella crowds, he’s set to knock it out yet again on the second weekend of Coachella. But he’s already grateful for how weekend one went down.
“This Coachella was bigger than the set – it was a full-circle moment,” Mustard told VIBE in the aftermath of his Coachella set. “I brought the studio to the stage, tapped in with some of my favourite collaborators, and took fans through my catalogue, hit by hit.”
“The energy was crazy from start to finish,” he added. “Big love to the team and everyone who helped bring the vision to life.”
Mustard’s second performance will take place during the second weekend of Coachella on 18th April. The set will kick off late, continuing on into the early hours of the following day.
Native Instruments’ giveaway will run until 25th April. Enter now.

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The post Native Instruments has partnered with DJ Mustard on some ultra-limited gear – here’s how you can enter to win it appeared first on MusicTech.

Charles Goldstuck’s GoldState raises $500m to buy music rights, with investment from Northleaf Capital and Ares Management"Our new relationship with Northleaf and Ares marks the next step in the evolution of our music investing strategy,” said GoldState founder Charles Goldstuck
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Spotify Responds: Did the 1000 Stream Rule cost Artists $47M?Spotify's 1000 stream rule has stripped artists of $47 million in royalties, according to Disc Makers CEO Tony van Veen. After Hypebot published this article a Spotify spokesperson reached out to rebut some of the data.
The post Spotify Responds: Did the 1000 Stream Rule cost Artists $47M? appeared first on Hypebot.

Pollstar Live Music Industry Awards 2025: Full Winners ListPollstar unveiled its Pollstar Awards 2025 winners on Wednesday night during the live music industry trade's annual Pollstar Live! conference.
The post Pollstar Live Music Industry Awards 2025: Full Winners List appeared first on Hypebot.

iZotope announce Equinox reverb plug-in iZotope’s latest offering combines their popular Stratus and Symphony reverb engines into a single plug-in that’s capable of tackling both music and post-production projects.

Get the Ableton Made Easy Online Course for $29 in LIMITED time offer
Audioplugindeals is currently offering Ableton Made Easy, an online, in-depth course for the Ableton Live DAW by Tapelab, for a heavily discounted price. Usually valued at $175, you can now get the entire Ableton Live Made Easy course with lifetime access for only $29. That’s 83% off! Do you want a comprehensive all-in-one package for [...]
View post: Get the Ableton Made Easy Online Course for $29 in LIMITED time offer