What is reverb? Definition, types, parameters, and best plugins
Reverb is one of the most fundamental and popular effects in music—in this in-depth guide, learn about its definition, common types, best plugins, and more.

A Tiny Chemistry LabWhile advances in modern technology have allowed average people access to tremendous computing power as well as novel tools like 3D printers and laser cutters for a bare minimum cost, around here we tend to overlook some of the areas that have taken advantage of these trends as well. Specifically in the area of chemistry, the accessibility of these things have opened up a wide range of possibilities for those immersed in this world, and [Marb’s Lab] shows us how to build a glucose-detection lab in an incredibly small form factor.
The key to the build is a set of three laser-cut acrylic sheets, which when sandwiched together provide a path for the fluid to flow as well as a chamber that will be monitored by electronic optical sensors. The fluid is pumped through the circuit by a custom-built syringe pump driven by a linear actuator, and when the chamber is filled the reaction can begin. In this case, if the fluid contains glucose it will turn blue, which is detected by the microcontroller’s sensors. The color value is then displayed on a small screen mounted to the PCB, allowing the experimenter to take quick readings.
Chemistry labs like this aren’t limited to one specific reaction, though. The acrylic plates are straightforward to laser cut, so other forms can be made quickly. [Marb’s Lab] also made the syringe pump a standalone system, so it can be quickly moved or duplicated for use in other experiments as well. If you want to take your chemistry lab to the extreme, you can even build your own mass spectrometer.

Combination Safety Glasses and Measurement ToolWhile rulers and tape measures are ubiquitous, they always seem to disappear when you need them. We know you’d never forget your safety glasses (safety first!), so what if they were also a measuring tool?
Starting by snapping pieces from a folding yardstick, [Simone Giertz] and [Laura Kampf] worked out a rough prototype before letting [Giertz] complete the project in brass. Some initial issues with the weight of the frames were alleviated by switching to a lighter weight plate material and using thinner frames and weight-saving holes near the ear pieces.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so we’ll let somebody else decide whether or not these will be the newest fashion craze. But it’s hard to argue with the timelessness of brass unless you have a copper allergy. We could definitely see a less expensive plastic version catching on in makerspaces for the PPE bin.
Want some other cool wearable gear? How about [Giertz]’s grocery bag hat, an evening gown with servo-driven flowers, or a shirt that reflects heat out the atmospheric window?

Sony generated $2.55bn from recorded music and publishing in Q3, up 9.6% YoYCompany's global recorded music revenues were up over 10% YoY
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From Ed Sheeran’s speech to UMG vs. TuneCore… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
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The Cue by Polarity Audio is a FREE audio cue sequencer
The Cue by Polarity Audio is an audio cue sequencer that can be yours for free! We’ve looked at tons of creative plugins lately, such as the new SSL X-Orcism II and Soundtoys PhaseMistress. However, not all plugins are created equal. Some transform your tracks into something entirely new, while others are more of a [...]
View post: The Cue by Polarity Audio is a FREE audio cue sequencer

Get Groovemate ONE by UJAM for FREE for a limited time
Black Friday month continues, and we’ve been looking at amazing freebies for you! Today’s freebie, available for a very limited time, is the Groovemate ONE percussion plugin from UJAM. We recently covered fantastic free offerings from Waves, Air Music Tech, Mixwave, and more, which are definitely worth grabbing. For this one, all you need to [...]
View post: Get Groovemate ONE by UJAM for FREE for a limited time

CD sales are down again… or are they?Physical music sales are still an important revenue source for most indie artists. Despite recent optimism CDs sales are down again. Or are they?
The post CD sales are down again… or are they? appeared first on Hypebot.

Rise+ helps musicians find community, resources and educationLooking for help taking your music career to the next level? Learn how Rise+ helps musicians find community, tools and support.
The post Rise+ helps musicians find community, resources and education appeared first on Hypebot.

Broken Mini: This Minimoog emulation is free and totally bugged out – by designFull Bucket Music has unveiled an intriguing new plugin called Broken Mini, a free emulation of the iconic Minimoog synthesizer – if that Minimoog in question is broken and has missing knobs and quirks that make it feel like a repair is in order.
Confused? You might be. Just imagine a Minimoog that doesn’t quite work like one and you’ll grasp the essence of the Broken Mini.

READ MORE: Soundtoys’ PhaseMistress analogue phaser plugin is available totally free until 15 November

As mentioned, the Broken Mini is not just another Minimoog clone; it is designed to simulate a “malfunctioning” synthesizer experience. In fact, Björn Arlt, the developer behind Full Bucket Music, describes it as a nod to an “unknown and obscure synthesizer from the past,” with no mention of the original Minimoog at all.
Despite its playful premise, Broken Mini retains some core functionalities of the original. It features three multi-wave oscillators, a noise generator, the classic ladder filter, and two envelope generators, all arranged in a familiar layout. But this is where the similarities end.
The plugin’s interface includes intentional omissions that enhance its “broken” aesthetic — certain graphical elements are missing, such as the C3 key on the keyboard and the sustain button on the ADSR envelope generator.
The peculiarities extend beyond visuals. For instance, the noise generator sometimes emits radio signals instead of standard noise, as if a radio wave receiver were interfering. The oversampling feature, meanwhile, allows users to turn down the sample rate to 0.25 times only, resulting in a deliberately “dirty” sound quality.

Broken Mini is now available as a free download in VST, VST3, CLAP, AAX, and AU formats for both Windows and macOS.
More information is available at Full Bucket.
The post Broken Mini: This Minimoog emulation is free and totally bugged out – by design appeared first on MusicTech.

How to become a successful Classical Musician: Paola Prestini Composer Paola Prestini has been named a Top 35 Female Composer in Classical Music by the Washington Post, a Top 100 Composer in the World by NPR and a Top 30 Professionals of the Year by Musical America. One can learn a lot about how to become a successful Classical Musician from Paolo Prestini.
The post How to become a successful Classical Musician: Paola Prestini  appeared first on Hypebot.

Pete Townshend says “somebody needs to occasionally slap Rick Rubin”: “One minute he’s telling us to do whatever we like and the next he’s telling us we mustn’t do this”Pete Townshend has taken a swipe at legendary producer Rick Rubin for the latter’s supposedly mixed messages on creativity.
Speaking on the Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt podcast, the Who guitarist and principal songwriter shares his thoughts on the creative process and how creativity doesn’t just belong to those who make a living with it.

READ MORE: “He didn’t need to do it” the real reason why Eddie Van Halen modded his guitars revealed

“You see a lot of stuff on YouTube and Instagram, people nagging you about the way that you have to be creative,” Townshend begins [via Ultimate Guitar]. “Somebody needs to occasionally slap Rick Rubin, because, one minute he’s telling us that we need to do whatever we like, and then, on the other hand, he’s telling us that we mustn’t do this, and we mustn’t do that.”
“The book of rules for me is… I’ve dabbled with all of those methods. I’ve carried complete big, recording studios on the road with me sometimes, and then sometimes I’ve used little cassette machines. I’ve recorded in all kinds of different ways. And if I fancy going into a studio with a huge orchestra, I’ve done that too. But what’s most interesting is the paper. The paper, the photograph, the writing.”
Townshend adds that creativity is “not just about rock stars, pop stars, singers, musicians, artists, or whatever. It’s about everybody.”
“This is why I think so many people who are successful in the arts and music tell people [that] everybody is creative. I think everybody might well be creative. It’s just that they don’t necessarily feel creative,” he explains. “And a lot of them, I think, feel lucky that they don’t go through the kind of trials and tribulations that they see big stars go through.”
That said, if there’s one thing Rubin and the other “pundits of creativity” have gotten right, it is that whatever you do has to spark joy.
“As Rick Rubin so rightly says, and many other pundits about creativity, it has to be fun,” Townshend says. “It has to be enjoyable. It has to be something that you love to do, and it also has to be something that you like what you do. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that anybody else will like it.”

The post Pete Townshend says “somebody needs to occasionally slap Rick Rubin”: “One minute he’s telling us to do whatever we like and the next he’s telling us we mustn’t do this” appeared first on MusicTech.

‘The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet’ has been identified thanks to RedditAttention: The internet just solved a 17-year-old mystery that’s been puzzling audiophiles and Reddit sleuths alike.
For nearly two decades, music enthusiasts and internet detectives have been captivated by a mysterious tune known as “The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet”. This enigmatic track, which first emerged in 2007 after being digitised from a cassette recording made in the 1980s, has sparked a global hunt for its origins, leaving countless theories and dead ends in its wake.
But thanks to the relentless efforts of a dedicated, resourceful and global group of online detectives aka the Internet, the mystery has finally been unravelled: the song is titled Subways of the Mind, performed by the little-known German band FEX.

READ MORE: Reddit users discover Teenage Engineering’s potential new product – the OP-XY

Back in 2004, a teenager named Darius S. who recorded the song from a radio broadcast in Germany posted it on a website along with other unknown songs in hopes of identifying them. The search for the song’s origins gained significant momentum in 2019, when Reddit got involved and a Brazilian teen uploaded the track to YouTube.
The breakthrough came earlier this week when user Marijn1412 from The Mysterious Song subreddit discovered the band FEX while sifting through the archives of a Hamburg local music festival.
He reached out to one of the band members, who confirmed his involvement with FEX and shared several recordings, including a version of Subways of the Mind. With the mystery solved, this elusive piece of music is now set to reclaim its place in the spotlight — much to the surprise of its original creators, who were completely unaware of their song’s enduring legacy.
68-year-old Michael Haedrich, who played keyboard and guitar for FEX, tells Der Spiegel magazine that the members were “completely overwhelmed” by the news. He adds that the band are keen to reissue Subways of Your Mind and are trying to track down the original recording of the song.
“I thought it was amazing that someone was interested in music by a band that was only successful regionally, if at all, and that was over 40 years ago,” Haedrich says.

The post ‘The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet’ has been identified thanks to Reddit appeared first on MusicTech.

Waves is giving away a new plugin this Black Friday – here’s how you can sign upWaves Audio is set to spice up your Black Friday with a brand new plugin coming your way! That’s right – the audio software company is back with its annual Black Friday giveaway, and this year, as with the last, it is keeping the details of the new plugin a mystery.

READ MORE: Soundtoys’ PhaseMistress analogue phaser plugin is available totally free until 15 November

As part of its Cyber Weekend celebration, 10,000 copies of the plugin will be given away for free on 29 November 2024. And while we don’t know exactly what it does yet, Waves has teased that it’s going to be “very exciting.”
For those who recall, past years’ Cyber Weekends have seen the company drop a bunch of freebies ranging from lo-fi reverbs and delay plugins to vocal processors. So act fast, and head over to the Waves website and sign up with your email to be notified when the plugin is available for download.
But that’s not all! Waves has already kicked off its Black Friday season with a selection of plugins starting from just $19.99. So while you wait for the big day, you can snag some incredible deals on their existing lineup.
Earlier this year, Waves announced a new trio of plugins, the Curves Spectral Series, which it claims can do your EQ for you. The first plugin in the trilogy, the Curves Equator, focuses on resonance suppression and is now available for purchase. The next two plugins will arrive next year and are set to focus on traditional audio equalisation and EQ matching respectively.
“If you think about EQ technology, it hasn’t really advanced in the last 30 years,” says Product Manager Shai Fishman in a launch video. “We thought there had to be a better way to get rid of Q’s and frequencies and nodes and all that stuff that’s really tedious and technical about EQ. Why not have the technology do the work for you? Go where you want to go, without worrying about the technical aspects?”
Visit Waves Audio to learn more.
The post Waves is giving away a new plugin this Black Friday – here’s how you can sign up appeared first on MusicTech.

IK Multimedia unveil T-Racks Triad Chorus The latest addition to IK Multimedia’s ever-growing plug-in collection delivers some modulation effects inspired by a popular 80s rackmount unit.