Irregular raises $80 million to secure frontier AI modelsIrregular, the AI security startup, now has a valuation of $450 million, a source close to the deal told TechCrunch.

BMI Foundation Names Janette Mata as 2025 peermusic Latin Music Award RecipientBMI Foundation, Inc. announced on Wednesday that it "has named singer/songwriter Janette Mata as the 2025 peermusic Latin Music Award recipient in recognition of her original song 'Triste Despedida.'""The peermusic Latin Music Award, established in 2003 by peermusic CEO Ralph Peer II, is an annual competition for young songwriters and composers of Latin music," a statement reads. "The award includes a $5,000 monetary prize for the best original song or instrumental composition in any Latin genre. Last year, on the 20th anniversary of the award, peermusic announced that Venezuelan singer-songwriter and producer Jorge Luis Chacín would serve as the spokesperson for the award and offering 1:1 artistic mentorship to awardees."“Music always finds new voices to continue telling the story of our humanity,” shared Chacín. “We celebrate Janette Mata, a singer-songwriter of extraordinary talent, whose art makes her a deserving recipient of this year’s scholarship.”"In the last two decades, the award has recognized twenty-one emerging songwriting and composing talents who have gone on to careers as film and media composers, songwriters, actors, and performers. Notable past recipients include singer/actor Mane de la Parra and songwriter Daniela Blau. Past judges have included composer Kike Santander, Latin Grammy President Gabriel Abaroa, composer Daniel Freiberg, producer Alcover, musician Linda Briceño, producer Andrés Saavedra, and musician Nicolás Junca from the band Monsieur Periné; and superstars such as Juanes, Chayanne, and Prince Royce have previously served as the spokesperson for the award."Listen to Janette Mata’s award-winning song “Triste Despedida”here.The post BMI Foundation Names Janette Mata as 2025 peermusic Latin Music Award Recipient first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Investors bet $800M on rocky StubHub IPO as regulators close inUPDATED: The long awaited StubHub IPO hit the market today, marking a defining moment for the secondary ticketing industry. Priced at $23.50 per share, the offering raised nearly $800 million and gave the company a valuation of about $8.6 billion. By day's end shares were down 6.4% below the IPO price.
The post Investors bet $800M on rocky StubHub IPO as regulators close in appeared first on Hypebot.

Smooth! Non-Planar 3D IroningIs 2025 finally the year of non-planar 3D printing? Maybe it won’t have to be if [Ten Tech] gets his way!
Ironing is the act of going over the top surface of your print again with the nozzle, re-melting it flat. Usually, this is limited to working on boring horizontal surfaces, but no more! This post-processing script from [Tenger Technologies], coupled with a heated, ball-shaped attachment, lets you iron the top of arbitrary surfaces.
At first, [Ten Tech] tried out non-planar ironing with a normal nozzle. Indeed, we’ve seen exactly this approach taken last year.  But that approach fails at moderate angles because the edge on the nozzle digs in, and the surrounding hot-end parts drag.
[Ten Tech]’s special sauce is taking inspiration from the ball-end mill finishing step in subtractive CNC work: he affixed the round tip of a rivet on the end of a nozzle, and insulating that new tool turned it into an iron that could smooth arbitrary curvy top layers.
One post-processing script later, and the proof of concept is working. Check out the video below to see it in action. As it stands, this requires a toolhead swap and the calibration of a whole bunch of new parameters, but it’s a very promising new idea for the community to iterate on. We love the idea of a dedicated tool and post-processing smoother script working together in concert.
Will 2025 be the year of non-planar 3DP? We’ve seen not one but two superb multi-axis non-planar printer designs so far this year: one from [Joshua Bird] and the other from [Daniel] of [Fractal Robotics]. In both cases, they are not just new machines, but are also supported with novel open-source slicers to make them work. Now [Ten Tech]’s ironer throws its hat in the ring. What will we see next?
Thanks to [Gustav Persson] for the tip!

Meet the new music streaming service that’s ditched algorithmic playlists… and it’s licensed by all three majorsMBW's Trailblazers series meets Randy Fusee, CEO of music streaming platform Coda Music
Source

Reverb Machine PS-48PS-48 is a collection of 100 synth patches inspired by the Yamaha PSS-480, a compact keyboard that, despite its modest design, delivers distinctive two-operator FM tones. The PSS-480's sounds are identical to those of the PSS-580, so this pack also covers the full PSS-580 sound set. Phoenix are among the best-known users of the PSS-480, featuring it both in live performances and on tracks like Girlfriend, Rome, 1901, and Entertainment. The pack is built from samples of the original instrument, recreating all 100 factory sounds with the added flexibility to adjust envelopes, vibrato, tremolo, and other parameters. Sampler Patches PS-48 includes patches for Native Instruments Kontakt, one of the most widely used software samplers. The patches feature a custom graphical interface with adjustable settings, modulation controls, and built-in chorus, delay, and reverb effects. These patches require the full version of Kontakt (version 6 or higher) and will not work with the free Player version. The pack also contains presets for the free Decent Sampler plugin, compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS. This version mirrors the Kontakt interface but replaces the LFO setting with an Autopan effect. Ableton Live PS-48 also includes over 100 Instrument Racks for Ableton Live, using the same samples and settings as the Kontakt and Decent Sampler versions but designed to work directly in Live. The Live 11 or later version is arranged like the Kontakt and Decent Sampler patches, with sounds grouped into categories. Individual patches can be selected using the Macro Variation control on the left side of the rack. Live 10 does not support Macro Variations, so the Live 10 version includes 100 individual Instrument Racks, one for each sound. Freshly Updated PS-48 is an updated version of my earlier Porta pack, expanding the original 40 Yamaha PSS-480 sounds to all 100 from the keyboard. The samples have been newly recorded for cleaner, lower-noise playback, and envelope controls are now fully adjustable, making it possible to extend or sustain sounds that were originally short and decaying. Read More

All Eyes, No Ears: New MIDiA Data Shows Why Virality Is Not Building FandomAre listeners overwhelmed — instead of excited — about discovering new music via social media posts? A new report could provide answers.
The post All Eyes, No Ears: New MIDiA Data Shows Why Virality Is Not Building Fandom appeared first on Hypebot.

What is a vocoder? How to use vocoders in your music
Learn about what a vocoder is, how the effect works, and how you can apply vocoding in your own music with hardware or plugins.

Updates to Intuitive Instruments' Exquis MPE controller Intuitive Instruments have announced firmware v2.2.0 for its award-winning Exquis MPE controller, alongside new workflow scripts for Ableton Live, Bitwig Studio, and Cockos Reaper.

Internet Archive reaches “confidential resolution” with major labels over “Great 78” project copyright disputeIn 2023, the Internet Archive faced a $412 million copyright infringement lawsuit from record labels because of its “Great 78” project. Among a hefty 400,000 recordings so far in the archive, the project would have given the general public free access to 2,749  iconic pre-1972 tracks by artists like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
As MusicTech reported back when the dispute emerged, labels including Sony, UMG and Capitol together claimed that the Internet Archive’s streaming and distribution of these tracks was a breach of copyright.

READ MORE: “No more saving credits for ‘important’ moments”: Get unlimited mastering credits with Waves Online Mastering PRO

Yesterday, the Internet Archive announced that some progress had been made on the case: “As noted in the recent court filings in UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Internet Archive, both parties have advised the Court that the matter has been settled. The parties have reached a confidential resolution of all claims and will have no further public comment on this matter.”
According to the CourtListener document which comes with the statement, “certain settlement terms” are pending.
This is all part of a wider argument about intellectual property rights in the music industry. Great 78’s ambitions also ruffled the feathers of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), who told Rolling Stone in August 2023 that the Internet Archive’s “mass scale copying, streaming and distribution of the thousands of pre-1972 recordings identified in the complaint — all of which are commercially available on multiple legitimate streaming services – are blatant violations of those established rights.
“Just as Internet Archive’s supposed ‘emergency library’ of copyrighted books was recently ruled unlawful by a federal judge, its ‘Great 78’ project is yet another mass infringement scheme that has no basis in law,” it continued.
The post Internet Archive reaches “confidential resolution” with major labels over “Great 78” project copyright dispute appeared first on MusicTech.

New Dutch music studio complex opens in former Cold War-era nuclear bunkerA new music studio complex is opening in The Hague, Netherlands in a former nuclear bunker dating back to the Cold War.
Comprising 17 separate studios ranging in size from 11 to 37 square metres, Subterra – located two floors underground – has been designed to offer a “distraction-free environment” idea for different styles of music production. They can say that again.

READ MORE: Fyre Festival acquired by LimeWire – after Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds loses bidding war

The original bunker was built as an emergency command centre in the event of a national crisis, and its original elements, including steel doors and thick walls, have been preserved.
The facility’s rehearsal rooms are managed by the Noodzetel Foundation, which aims to support The Hague’s musicians and its cultural entrepreneurship.
“Subterra is a unique place in The Hague, and even in the Netherlands!” says The Hague councillor for Finance, Culture and Economic Development Saskia Bruines.
“Here underground, we preserve a special part of The Hague’s history, while at the same time giving local musicians the space to grow and inspire each other.
“The Hague is the cradle of Dutch pop culture, and we are determined to keep it that way. Having good rehearsal rooms and a safe place for equipment is absolutely vital. I am delighted that, together with the Noodzetel Foundation, we have been able to make this a reality.”
For 12 years, since 2013, the 2,000-square metre bunker had stood empty, but following 14 months of renovation, the new recording studios and rehearsal rooms are now fully in use. Subterra says there’s even already a waiting list.
Subterra is located near The Hague Central Station, at the Schedeldoekshaven under the former Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Learn more at storiesofpurpose.thehague.com.
The post New Dutch music studio complex opens in former Cold War-era nuclear bunker appeared first on MusicTech.

iZotope’s FXEQ is not really an FX EQ at all — but at $49, it’s a steal£49, izotope.com
It’s funny how producers can spend hours honing the EQ on a part – bringing out the breathiness of a vocal, the depth of a bassline, or the glassiness of a guitar – yet rarely devote the same level of attention to shaping the tone of the effects being added.

READ MORE: Baby Audio Smooth Operator Pro is a must-try spectral plugin for mixing and mastering engineers

With its new FXEQ, iZotope has delivered a plugin that not only makes spectral shaping of effects an unavoidable and easy component of your workflow, but that also reveals just how sonically creative this approach can be.

What is FXEQ.. and what isn’t it?
On the surface, FXEQ is a relatively simple concept. It’s a multi-effect processor with five processing modules, each dedicated to an effect type: Saturate, Reverb, Delay, Modulate and Lo-Fi. Each module is fronted by an ‘EQ’ (the inverted commas will be explained shortly) intended to focus a module’s effect on a specific frequency or frequency range. These modules are arranged in parallel, and so each is fed an unadulterated dry signal and mixes its processed results into the plugin’s main output signal.
But hang on a moment… if the modules are parallel and combine their output signals, does this not mean that many copies of the original signal (or processed versions thereof) are being layered together?
Well, no, not exactly. iZotope says each module features an EQ, and it’s right there in the plugin’s name, but in reality, these are multi-band filters, not EQs. So, rather than boosting or cutting frequencies in the signal, they only allow the frequencies you specify to pass through to the module’s effect processor. Put another way, a module’s filter allows its effect to be targeted at specific frequency ranges, and a module will only output a processed version of those frequency ranges.
Quibbling over whether something’s an EQ or a filter may seem pedantic, but I do find the plugin confusing because of this inaccuracy. It’s also made for some amusingly cryptic descriptions in the plugin’s manual, as it tries to tiptoe around this conceptual discrepancy. A name like, ‘FXFilter’ or ‘FilterF’ would have sounded too much like a filter plugin, but I’m sure the development team could have come up with something less conceptually hamstringing than ‘FXEQ’.
Thankfully, once you grasp the EQ versus filter distinction, everything makes perfect sense.
Reverb module in iZotope FXEQ. Image: Press
What is iZotope’s FXEQ like to use?
The main area of FXEQ’s interface is taken up by a real-time spectrogram overlaid by various coloured curves. These curves visualise each module’s filter, with the colour of the curve matching the colour used on the module control panels arrayed across the bottom of the plugin window.
Each module’s filter curve can consist of up to six bands, and the shape of each band can be either low shelf, high shelf, proportional Q or band shelf. The last two of these are easier to think of as narrow and wide band-pass filters, respectively. Frequency, gain and Q/bandwidth of a band can be adjusted, either by dragging nodes in the visualisation, or via a panel that displays settings for the currently-selected node.
The actual processing modules feature a basic range of controls, although this doesn’t reflect the quality of the high-standard processing algorithms.
Each module offers a choice of models/operating modes, yet typically features only two dials and another switch or two. For example, the Reverb module offers a choice of Hall, Chamber and Plate models, has dials for controlling pre-delay and decay time, and buttons next to each dial to switch them between tempo-synced or free timing modes.
The blend of dry and processed signal is controlled by a global Amount slider, which determines the level of the mixed output from the processing modules. There’s also a button that disables the dry signal so that the plugin outputs only the processed signal (a conventional wet/dry balance control may have been less convoluted). There’s also an optional global limiter to catch the sudden signal peaks that filters can create.
Rather than feeling restrictive, this simplicity of operation is actually beneficial because it helps in focusing one’s attention on the spectral aspects of each module, which is what FXEQ is all about. That said, there are a couple of glaring omissions from these simple controls.
The first of these is that modules can’t easily be soloed. A module’s individual frequency bands can be soloed, so that you hear just that band of that module, but, if you’re using more than one filter band in a module, the only way to solo an entire module is to disable all of the other modules.
The second omission is that modules don’t have an output gain control. The only way to adjust a module’s output level is to adjust the gain of its filter bands – simple enough if using only one band, but a real pain when multiple filter bands are in play.

What effects can FXEQ create?
When used as though it were a stack of conventional effect processors, the plugin’s frequency-based approach literally forces you to think about the effects in spectral terms.
Suddenly, you’re concentrating on different aspects of the effects you’re using. Rather than just applying a saturation plugin and moving on, with FXEQ, you automatically start to explore which frequencies of a part respond well to saturation (or a reverb or a delay or whatever), and which sound better when kept clean.
But where I find FXEQ really comes into its own is when it’s approached in a more holistic way – not so much a collection of individual processors, but a single effect whose components combine to achieve countless creative results. A plain drum loop can be turned into a floor-filler with a thundering bassline, snappy snares and dancing percussion. A vocal can be given weight in the lower-mids, edginess in the upper-mids, and a light wash of reverb in the breathier registers. Synth pads can glow with close-to warmth whilst simultaneously sparkling in the distance. None of this feels convoluted to think about or complex to configure; it’s all just down to how FXEQ works.
And so, despite some shortcomings, I’m hugely impressed by the range and depth of effects that FXEQ can produce, and by how much it encourages sonic experimentation and creativity.
One thing I can’t quite believe, though, is the near-giveaway price of £49. It’s worth every penny!

Key features

Spectral multi-effects plugin (AAX, AU, VST3)
For macOS Ventura (13) and newer / Windows 10 and newer
5 parallel processing modules: Saturate, Reverb, Delay, Modulate and Lo-Fi
6-band, per-module filters
Global limiter

The post iZotope’s FXEQ is not really an FX EQ at all — but at $49, it’s a steal appeared first on MusicTech.

Fyre Festival acquired by LimeWire – after Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds loses bidding warBack in July, Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland listed the Fyre brand on eBay. Now, the founder has confirmed the new owner – and its the noughties’ favourite music (and virus) sharing service, LimeWire.
LimeWire’s acquisition of the Fyre brand was announced yesterday on Instagram. “Big news: Fyre Festival has officially been acquired by LimeWire,” the post reads. “What could possibly go wrong?”

READ MORE: Billy McFarland’s Fyre Festival brand is up for sale, as he describes the brand as “one of the most powerful attention engines in the world”

Both McFarland and LimeWire are aware of the irony of the two brands joining forces. The ill-fated Fyre Festival was a total shambles, while LimeWire’s peer-to-peer file sharing was notorious for circulating malware. “Two of the internet’s most infamous names are now under one roof – and no, this isn’t about repeating past mistakes,” the post notes.
“Together, two of the most talked-about names in internet history are starting a new chapter: built on transparency, tech, and a healthy dose of humour.”
Speaking of humour, the announcement goes on to reveal another famous figure who lost out in the Fyre brand bidding war – Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds. “LimeWire secured the Fyre brand after a bidding war that even included Ryan Reynolds and his agency Maximum Effort,” the post reads.
Ryan Reynolds even provided a comment to be included in the announcement, saying: “Congrats to LimeWire… I look forward to attending their first event but will be bringing my own palette of water.”
Considering Reynold’s comment, the Canadian star was fully aware of Fyre Festival’s history. That being said, he’s clearly got a taste for investing and injecting new life into projects on the decline; back in 2020 he purchased Wrexham Football club alongside It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney. And the investment has proven to be a success – the 2024–25 season saw Wrexham playing their first League One match in 19 years.
Regardless, LimeWire already has plans in place for the future of Fyre Festival. However, Julian Zehetmayr, LimeWire’s CEO, notes that the days of it being a ‘festival’ are in the past. “We’re not bringing the festival back,” he explains. “We’re bringing the brand and the meme back to life. This time with real execution.”
Instead, Fyre will be “reimagined” to expand “beyond the digital realm and tap into real-world experiences”.
LimeWire’s acquisition follows on from LimeWire’s 2022 relaunch as an NFT marketplace. The company also recently announced its plan to “democratise the creative space” with its AI Music Studio.

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The post Fyre Festival acquired by LimeWire – after Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds loses bidding war appeared first on MusicTech.

Techivation releases M-Imager stereo widening plugin with 55% OFF intro price
Techivation has released M-Imager, a spectral stereo widening plugin for macOS and Windows. M-Imager is Techivation’s take on clean, natural-sounding imaging and stereo expansion. After my initial test, I have to say it’s a seriously impressive tool if you’re into subtle but precise mix enhancement. It’s designed to widen mono or stereo tracks without introducing [...]
View post: Techivation releases M-Imager stereo widening plugin with 55% OFF intro price

Krewella on Collabs in EDM, Going Indie and New FandomThis week, Ari is joined by the electronic duo Krewella to discuss staying true to artistry, industry shifts, and new music.