Grainferno from Baby Audio Baby Audio’s latest release has been built on a new granular engine that’s capable of turning samples into everything from synth-like tonal instruments to lush, evolving atmospheres or “volatile digital noise”.

BandLab introduces new AI loop-matching tool, Palette[Editor’s note: BandLab Technologies and MusicTech are both part of the Caldecott Music Group.]

BandLab has expanded its collection of intelligent AI Smart Tools with a new AI loop-matching tool, Palette.

While BandLab already boasts a slew of AI features, from its Voice Cleaner to its AI FX Preset Generator, Palette comes as the perfect tool to help producers find complementary loops for their projects in a single click. All the tool needs is for a user to input their preferred key, genre, instrument and BPM – then Palette can get to work.

READ MORE: Johnny Keirle on amplifying the Super Bowl halftime show: “I’ve fought really hard to create a proper audio concert experience”

In BandLab, you can use Palette by selecting it on the ‘New Track’ pop-up. There, you pick your your preferences, and Palette with generate two instruments in-line with your selections. Then you’ve got the option to bulk up your sound with up to three more instruments.
In terms of preferences, users are able to choose from a selection of 10 genres, spanning from pop, to R&B, to trap. Once that’s in place, paired with a user’s other BPM, key and instrumental selections, Palette is able to filter through BandLab’s Sound Library of 250,000 royalty-free samples.
If a user isn’t entirely satisfied with Palette’s offering of loops, they can tweak each track with a selection of sliders. You can also click to ‘Regenerate’ to find new loops, as well as delete any loop you don’t like. Then you’re left with a perfect, multi-layered “production ready” track to utilise in the studio.
For those keen to utilise Palette’s AI loop-matching, you’ll have to be a BandLab member. That’ll cost you $14.95 a month, and allow you to utilise the platform’s entire library of sounds and intelligent tools.
Elsewhere, BandLab has continued to back the growth and development of AI tools in music. Last July, BandLab Licensing started allowing creators to opt in to train AI models by marking a song as ‘open to AI licensing’.
For more information, head to BandLab.
Credit: BandLab
The post BandLab introduces new AI loop-matching tool, Palette appeared first on MusicTech.

Get iZotope Neutron 5 Elements for FREE + a massive plugin bundle until March 17th
iZotope Japan is giving away Neutron 5 Elements for free as part of a large freebie bundle that includes 45 plugins and the Luna DAW. The offer runs until March 17th, 2026. Neutron 5 Elements normally costs $55, so this is a pretty sweet deal. Most of the other stuff in the bundle was either [...]
View post: Get iZotope Neutron 5 Elements for FREE + a massive plugin bundle until March 17th

Bitwig Studio 6 has arrived: Everything you need to know about the latest version of the popular DAW platformBitwig Studio 6 has arrived, bringing a number of new features and workflow improvements to the popular DAW platform.
Aiming to deliver “fresh and faster ways to work”, Bitwig Studio 6 includes a hefty upgrade to its automation editing capabilities, new editing options and project-wide key signature, which helps producers craft melodies by guiding them within a predefined key.

READ MORE: Tembo is a beginner-friendly sequencer and sampler made of wood – and it’s already smashed its Kickstarter goal by nearly 20x

There’s also been a number of updates to the platform’s user interface, aiming to provide smoother navigation and easier customisation. Let’s take a closer look at what’s new in Bitwig Studio 6:
Upgrades to automation editing

Bitwig Studio 6 brings two new ways to edit automation and access automation curves. Firstly, you can now press the A key to switch to Automation Mode, and overlay each track with the parameter last touched. All automation for any track can also now be accessed in the Detail Editor panel.
There’s also been a number of changes to the automation editing workflow in a bid to make the experience more “unified”, Bitwig says. They include the ability to click near a line to quickly move it up or down, to freely drag automation points past others to overwrite them, and the ability to press H for hold behaviour, meaning a parameter will stay at a flat value until the next automation point. There’s also an upgraded algorithm for the freehand pencil tool, making hand-drawn curves clean, simple ones which can be easily edited later.
Automation clips
Credit: Bitwig
In Bitwig Studio 6, automation can be manipulated in clips – similar to the platform’s audio and note clips – with possibilities including independent looping and start times, sliding clip contents in time, and stretching clips. These clips exist alongside traditional track automation, and can be saved to the library for later use.
Clip aliases
Credit: Bitwig
In a totally new feature for Bitwig Studio 6, clip aliases present a new way to create structure and sequence in your music. Essentially, instead of duplicating a clip across a track, you can now drag it as an alias, meaning all clips under that alias will be edited when one of them is, with other clip settings remaining unchanged. Clip aliases work with audio, note and automation clips.
Project-wide key signature
Credit: Bitwig
As well as standard tempo and time signature information, projects in Bitwig Studio 6 can now be set to a specific key signature, helping producers guide notes and create melodies, chords and harmonies. A Snap to Key function can be utilised by pressing the letter K on your keyboard, which can also be combined with the Pencil tool for “speedy creation that’s always in key”. There’s also a Quantize to Key function which snaps existing notes or clips to a chosen scale.
This new key signature can also be used to control note FX, with six note-shifting devices – including Arpeggiator, Randomize, and Key Filter+ – compatible with the Use Global Key option.
Updated user interface
Credit: Bitwig
There’s also been a number of updates to Bitwig’s user interface in version 6. Editing tools are now laid out as a palette on the right side of the interface, grid appearance can be adjusted from each editor via the Editor Settings menu, project-wide visual controls are accessible by right clicking the top of the Bitwig window, and track headers are now more dynamic when resized.
Additionally, Bitwig Studio 6 features a new Arranger Auto Zoom feature – which makes a selected track or lane larger while keeping everything else the same size – and Clip Launcher, which displays the clip position and loop count for each track.
Pricing & availability
Bitwig Studio 6 is available as a free upgrade to all existing Bitwig users. Meanwhile, new Bitwig customers can get the latest version now at a number of tiered price points, with Bitwig Studio Essentials, Bitwig Studio Producer and the full version o f Bitwig Studio priced at £79, £169, £339, respectively.
All the new features detailed above are available in all three versions of Bitwig Studio.
Learn more at Bitwig.
The post Bitwig Studio 6 has arrived: Everything you need to know about the latest version of the popular DAW platform appeared first on MusicTech.

Overloud introduce Gem Comp160 The latest arrival to Overloud’s Gem Series plug-in range faithfully recreates not one, but three versions of the iconic dbx 160.

Tembo is a beginner-friendly sequencer and sampler made of wood – and it’s already smashed its Kickstarter goal by nearly 20xMusic technology company Musical Beings – founded by former employees of Google, Waves Audio, Wix, and Simply – has launched Tembo, a new child- and beginner-friendly step sequencer, sampler and drum machine with an intuitive, game-style interface.
Looking like something akin to a draughts board, Tembo is made entirely of wood – a decision taken by Musical Beings to make the unit more inviting than other drum machines and samplers in the category that are often metal or monochrome.

READ MORE: The MacBook Neo is Apple’s cheapest MacBook model ever – will it be any good for music production?

“We chose to make Tembo out of wood to get people feeling natural next to it,” says co-founder Ayal Rosenberg. “This is something I want to keep on the dining table, because it’s inviting and pleasant to look at. Wood integrates naturally into any room.”
Beneath its exterior, Tembo houses a five-channel, 16-step sequencer, with sequences created by placing circular magnets – or “Beats” – on the user’s chosen positions.
You’ll notice, though, that the grid is only eight blocks across. That’s because you can position your Beats in specific ways to make use of 16th note subdivisions, too. By placing a Beat on the first position it will trigger the first 16th note, while stacking two Beats on the first position triggers the first two 16th notes of the sequence. You can flip a Beat over to add a step to the second 16th note alone.
Tembo’s deceptively comprehensive set of controls is completed by dedicated pitch and volume knobs for each of the five channels – plus a send for adding delay and reverb effects – as well as global tempo, swing and pattern length controls in the bottom left corner of the unit.

In terms of onboard sounds, Tembo has eight sample packs, with the ability to add your own samples via either its XLR/TRS input or built-in microphone. There’s also dual USB-C/MIDI connections so more seasoned musicians can connect the device to their DAW or external instruments.
“We’re not professional musicians but music is huge in our lives,” reflects Rosenberg, Musical Beings co-founder.
“We’ve been playing and making music our whole lives as amateurs. But we never felt truly good at it or highly musical. We want to change this. We want everyone to feel musical, especially the youngest musicians.”
“If you search for step sequencers or drum machines, they look complex and intimidating, even if they are also beautiful,” he continues.
Tembo is live now on Kickstarter, with nearly £700,000 pledged, well over its £37k goal. A number of tiers are available to get your own, ranging between $369 and $549.
 Learn more at Musical Beings.
The post Tembo is a beginner-friendly sequencer and sampler made of wood – and it’s already smashed its Kickstarter goal by nearly 20x appeared first on MusicTech.

How Daniel Avery remixed every track on his alt-metal album in six weeksAfter Daniel Avery spent almost three years submerged in the production style of his 2025 electronic/alt-metal album, Tremor, one might think his identity was wrapped up in the music. But when the British producer decided to remix the LP as Tremor (Midnight Versions), he approached them with complete separation — as if he was working with another artist’s music.

READ MORE: Johnny Keirle on amplifying the Super Bowl halftime show: “I’ve fought really hard to create a proper audio concert experience”

“I really like being presented with someone else’s folder of ideas and imagination, and then shaping it into something else,” Avery says. “Even though I was extremely familiar with [Tremor], that separation felt liberating. I treated each one with the [night]club front and center. I told myself I was never going to be too precious with the originals. Some of the tracks bear a strong resemblance, but some of them do not. That was conscious. I wanted to treat every remix as if it were its own track.”
For Midnight Versions, Avery was the sole remixer for every track on the original. This wasn’t the initial plan. Avery, the dance music producer, took his hand at remixing Tremor by Avery, the electronic/alt-metal producer, and ended up remixing all of Tremor’s 13 tracks in six weeks.
“I [remixed] Greasy off the Racing Line and Rapture in Blue, and I was so happy with the results that I just kept going,” says Avery, the dance music producer. “It was nice to work in a more urgent way. I’ve always found that the club music I’ve made that’s connected the most has come about without much thought.”
Image: Kalpesh Lathigra
Midnight Versions ended up taking on a life of its own. The club versions captured the same energy he poured into Tremor, but they needed their own order to tell their own story. It’s not an extension of the original; it’s a freestanding release that exists in the same sonic universe as Tremor.
“I was so proud, and still am so proud of Tremor. It really feels like such an honest representation of where my head was at in that moment. It always had its own very strong identity,” Avery says. “[With] Midnight Versions, I could just open another door to that world.”
Avery has spent most of his professional life in the club world. So, even though songs on Tremor are fit for vigorous mosh pits (he especially shouts out Soundiron’s guitar plugin Axe Machina for that), driving elements such as distortion and basslines connect back to the rave. These were often his bridge between the originals and the remixes.
Greasy off the Racing Line features legendary alt-rock singer Allison Mosshart leading a fiery choir of the damned from the speakers with her relentless, frightening tone. However, Avery’s Midnight Version filters down the intense dissonance and replaces it with a high-speed jungle beat.

So, for Mosshart’s vocal to retain its power in the less busy mix, Avery simply added a layer of distortion with FabFilter Saturn to make it more “demonic.” Instead of the front of an evil battalion, the voice becomes the kind of unshakable utterance that infects the mind during a deep, dancefloor flow state.
“There’s not tons done to [the vocal] at all,” Avery says. “The way it was made on the original was compressed heavily. So, [I added] distortion, particularly in the real top end of it. ‘A demonic phone call’ is the brief I gave myself.”
Not every track on Tremor is as foreboding. Some reflect Avery’s talent for crafting intricate electronic music. One such piece is the enchanting harmonic ambient composition, Neon Pulse. For that Midnight Version, he crafted a breakbeat out of his massive library of live and electronic drums he’s accrued over the years. Then he slightly rearranged the original, which was a freeform synth jam, to align. Another key addition was the Reese bass, one of the classic sounds of electronic club music.
Image: Kalpesh Lathigra
“Adding that Reese bass is something that I’ve been doing on a few remixes recently, and I think it’s starting to become a slight signature sound of mine,” Avery explains. “There’s a breakbeat. There’s a beautiful melody. But then this Reese bass, which is very melodic but has a real weight to it, is able to give it that propulsive quality.”
The Midnight Version of Rapture in Blue follows a similar formula. The song, which features the sweet vocals of Cecile Believe, shifts from dense indie to pristine breakbeat, borrowing the layers from the original for burning effects on the remix.
But that cleanliness to the sound actually demonstrates the one aspect of Midnight Versions where Avery wasn’t able to separate the remixes from the originals —at least not on his own. After he finished an initial rendition of the Rapture in Blue remix, he played it live and discovered the mixdown was not fit for the club.

“I obviously still had my brain too deep inside Tremor. Even though I thought I’d made a club version of it, it was way too muddy, way too murky. No separation,” Avery says. “The whole idea of the original is that it’s extremely dense, layered, and tightly woven. That’s what creates that wall of sound.”
To release the new versions from that, Avery brought in Pearson Sound to complete the mixdowns. Similar to how Avery approached each remix as if the tracks were made by another artist, Pearson Sound asked Avery which songs from other artists he would want the remixes to sound like.
“The way my brain was working, I was thinking ‘Which DJ would I love to hand this one to?’” Avery says. “Once that first one was done, I knew that I could call on Pearson Sound to do the mixing, which gave me more creative freedom. The real intricacies of the dynamics are going to be dialed in at the last moment. I can just see what happens.”
Image: Kalpesh Lathigra
The “let’s see what happens” attitude was the key to Midnight Versions. Avery wanted to make some remixes of Tremor for the club, and it happened to go so well that he made a complete counterpart to the album. When the approach is built on a lack of expectations, there’s no telling where the music might end up.
The post How Daniel Avery remixed every track on his alt-metal album in six weeks appeared first on MusicTech.

Ford’s new AI assistant will help fleet owners know if seatbelts are being usedFord rolled out an AI assistant this week that can monitor and analyze millions of data points to help its Ford Pro commercial customers boost their bottom line. The bet, and one that most other automakers are making, is that there’s money to be made in software. Even if it’s free. Ford Pro AI debuted […]

Chance the Rapper vs. Pat the Manager trial: Seven revelations from the courtroom so farThe civil trial between Chancelor Bennett (Chance the Rapper) and his former manager Patrick Corcoran is underway
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Overload Audio ECHODUDE BBD-150ECHODUDE BBD-150 - Vintage Analog BBD Echo Delay Plugin ECHODUDE BBD-150 is a detailed software recreation of classic bucket-brigade delay units, closely modelled on the Echoman EM-150 and Melos DE-1 to capture their distinctive tone, modulation, and driven analogue character. Faithfully informed by the original hardware designs, ECHODUDE BBD-150 preserves the signal behaviour, frequency shaping, and saturation response that define vintage BBD delays. From warm, rounded echoes to unstable, degraded repeats, every stage of the signal path has been designed to reflect the sound, shape, and dynamic behaviour of the original circuits. Particular attention has been given to input drive and feedback response, allowing the delay line to transition naturally from clean repeats into dense, harmonically rich saturation and self-oscillation. The characteristic clock noise, bandwidth limitations, and modulation artefacts of bucket-brigade technology are carefully reproduced to maintain an authentic analogue feel. While remaining true to its hardware inspirations, ECHODUDE BBD-150 extends the original designs with full stereo operation, enabling wide spatial imaging and immersive delay textures without compromising the core mono BBD character of the source units. Designed for producers who value depth, movement, and imperfection, ECHODUDE BBD-150 delivers a faithful analogue delay experience adapted for modern workflows. Key Features: Detailed recreation of classic BBD delay circuitry. Modelled on Echoman EM-150 and Melos DE-1 units. Authentic analogue drive, feedback, and modulation behaviour. Characterful saturation and self-oscillation response. Faithful bandwidth and clock artefact modelling. Full stereo delay processing. Optimised for modern DAW environments. Windows (VST3) and macOS (VST3 & AU) versions available. Read More

New Music Critique: Claudia HoyserContact: maggie@milestonecollective.comWeb: claudiahoyser.comSeeking: Label, BookingStyle: Indie-Country

According to her bio, Claudia Hoyser “began in her parents’ basement, singing into a karaoke machine she ‘sang into until it died.’” Now that’s commitment—and, clearly, she hasn’t lost that drive. She’s already shared the stage with Country legends like Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, and Miranda Lambert and it’s clear she belongs in that company. Her “fingerprint voice” and her natural knack for sultry Country storytelling is evident on tracks like “Tides Gonna Rise,” a song that could easily already be on your playlist or soundtracking the likes of Yellowstone. For fans of Country: remember the name.The post New Music Critique: Claudia Hoyser first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

3D Printing a Harmonic Pin-Ring Gearing DriveCycloidal drives are a type of speed reducer that are significantly more compact than gearboxes, but they still come with a fair number of components. In comparison, the harmonic pin-ring drive that [Raph] recently came across as used in some TQ electric bicycles manages to significantly reduce the number of parts to just two discs. Naturally he had to 3D model his own version for printing a physical model to play with.
How exactly this pin-ring cycloidal drive works is explained well in the referenced [Pinkbike] article. Traditional cycloidal drives use load pins that help deal with the rather wobbly rotation from the eccentric input, but this makes for bulkier package that’s harder to shrink down. The change here is that the input force is transferred via two teethed discs that are 180° out of sync, thus not only cancelling out the wobble, but also being much more compact.
It appears to be a kind of strain wave gearing, which was first patented in 1957 by C.W. Musser and became famous under the Harmonic Drive name, seeing use by NASA in the Lunar Rover and beyond. Although not new technology by any means, having it get some more well-deserved attention is always worth it. If you want to play with the 3D model yourself, files are available both on GitHub and on MakerWorld.

MPG Awards 2026: Shortlist announced Now in their 18th year, the MPG Awards celebrate the very best of British production talent working behind the scenes in the UK music industry, alongside some key international collaborators.

Baby Audio Grainferno: Everything you need to know about the plugin promising to “redefine granular synthesis”Baby Audio has unveiled Grainferno, its most “advanced synthesizer to date” with an expansive feature set which seeks to “redefine granular synthesis”.
Joining the brand’s growing collection of creative effects and virtual instruments, Grainferno is built on a new granular processing engine capable of breaking samples apart and rebuilding them in completely new textures.

What is Grainferno, and how is it different from other granular synthesizers?
Granular synthesis is a method of sound design in which an audio sample is broken up into tiny fragments called ‘grains’. These fragments – which are often only 1 to 100ms long – can be played together to create new textures and soundscapes.
Like other granular synthesizers, Grainferno allows producers to chop up and play with audio files at a granular level, turning them into rich textures for sound design. But it also comes with a selection of features that position it as a new frontrunner in software granular synthesis, including the ability to generate grains from two independent source files, and morph them together in real time.
Credit: Baby Audio
Additionally, Grainferno is able to generate grains at speeds fast enough to “cross into the audio range” which, as Baby Audio explains, means they stop behaving like textures and more like oscillators, allowing any audio file to be transformed into a playable synthesizer with the “sonic fingerprint of the original audio”.

Grainferno also sports a drag-and-drop modulation system, with nearly every parameter available for modulation. There are three envelopes, three LFOs and three random generators to play with, offering “deep control over the evolving behaviour” of your sound. The drag-and-drop workflow is designed for an intuitive routing experience, even with the ability to cross-modulate between modulators.
The plugin is also loaded with 325 custom presets from top producers and sound designers including Virtual Riot, dnksaus and Francis Preve, with per-preset Macro controls, a rich factory sample library and six quickstart templates so you can dive right in. 
Grainferno also features a number of onboard effects to further shape sound, including ambient delay and reverb, analogue-inspired modulation, and multimode saturation. 
Pricing & availability
Grainferno is available in VST, VST3, AU and AAX formats, and is compatible with all major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper and Reason. A standalone version is also available for non-DAW use.
Sample formats compatible with Grainferno include WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3 and Ogg Vorbis.
Price-wise, Grainferno is available now at an introductory price of £59 / $79. After the intro period, the instrument will be priced at £99 / $129.
Learn more at Baby Audio.
The post Baby Audio Grainferno: Everything you need to know about the plugin promising to “redefine granular synthesis” appeared first on MusicTech.

GARUC Audio releases FREE Deess-ertic Lite de-esser plugin
GARUC Audio has released Deess-ertic Lite, a free de-esser plugin for macOS and Windows. De-essers are usually associated with vocals, but they’re useful on a lot more than that. I like using de-essers in my sound design workflow too, especially at the mastering stage, where they’re pretty handy for dynamically removing harsh frequencies without reaching [...]
View post: GARUC Audio releases FREE Deess-ertic Lite de-esser plugin