Fixing an Elgato HD60 S HDMI Capture DeviceThere’s a special kind of satisfaction found in the act of repairing a previously broken device, which is why YouTube is full of repair channels and guides on how to do it yourself. Inspired by this, [Doug Brown] decided to give it a shot himself, with an Elgato HD60 S HDMI capture device as the patient. As per the eBay listing, the device did not show up as a USB device when connected to a computer — a quick probing of the innards revealed that not only were the board voltages being dragged down, but some of the components on the PCB were getting suspiciously hot.
One of the broken switching regulators on the Elgato HD60 S capture device PCB. (Credit: Doug Brown)
On a thermal camera the hot components in question turned out to part of the voltage regulator circuits, one a switching regulator (marked fiVJVE, for Fitipower FP6373A) and another a voltage inverter marked PFNI (Ti TPS60403DBV).
Since both took 5 V, the suspicion was an over-voltage event on the USB side. After replacing the FP6373A and TPS60403 with newly purchased ones, the voltage rails were indeed healthy, and the Elgato sprung to life and could be used for HDMI capture and pass-through. However, the device’s onboard LEDs stubbornly refused to follow the boot-up pattern or show any other color patterns. Was this just a busted Innotech IT1504 LED driver IC?
Swapping it with a pin-compatible Macroblock MB15040 didn’t improve the situation, and the LEDs worked fine when externally controlling the MB15040 on its SPI bus, as well as with the original IT1504. Asking Elgato whether there was a known issue with these status LEDs didn’t lead to anything, so [Doug] decided to tackle the presumed source of the problem: the Nuvoton M031LD2AE MCU that’s supposed to drive the LED driver IC. The PCB helpfully provides a 4-pin JST connector on the board for the MCU’s SWD interface, but Elgato did protect the flash contents, so a straight dump wasn’t going to work.
The binary firmware is however helpfully available from Elgato, with the MCU already running the latest version. This is the point where [Doug] loaded the firmware into Ghidra to begin to understand what exactly this firmware was supposed to be doing. Putting on a fresh MCU with the correct firmware definitely worked, but debugging was hard as the new MCU also enabled protections, so in Ghidra the offending code for this was identified and neutralized, finally allowing for on-chip debugging and leading down another rabbit hole only to find an SPI flash chip at the end.
Ultimately it turned out that all the hardware was working fine. The problem ended up being that the LED patterns stored on the SPI EEPROM had become corrupted, which caused the Nuvoton MCU to skip over them. The same issue was confirmed on a second HD60 S, which makes it seem that this is a common issue with these Elgato capture devices. As a next step [Doug] hopes to figure out a way to more easily fix this issue, as even the streamlined process is still quite convoluted. Whether it is an issue with Elgato’s software or firmware (updater) is unknown at this point, but at least there seems to be a fix for now, even if Elgato support seems to just tell owners to ‘ignore it if capturing works’.
There’s nothing quite as inspirational as reading about a successful repair. If you need another shot of endorphins, check out the work [BuyItFixIt] put into a video baby monitor to bring it back online.

SynthFest UK 2024 Update Over 60 manufacturers are already confirmed to be exhibiting at this year's show with more still to be announced, and there will be a series of free seminars and product demo workshops running throughout the day.

From Global Music Rights’ $3.3bn valuation to the Miley Cyrus copyright lawsuit… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
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Humble Bundle offers IK Multimedia SampleTank 4 for $1
You can pay just $1 to get IK Multimedia’s SampleTank 4 ($199.99) at Humble Bundle until October 9th, 2024. SampleTank 4 has been around for a few years but remains a favorite for many musicians. The sound and groove workstation features an impressive 100GB sound library with 6000 instrument presets. Thanks to Humble and IK Multimedia, [...]
View post: Humble Bundle offers IK Multimedia SampleTank 4 for $1

STL Tones reveal Tonality: Wes Borland The latest addition to STL Tones' Tonality range contains a selection of amps, cabinets effects from the personal collection of Limp Bizkit's Wes Borland.

Musictop Instruments releases FREE Creatools Keys instrument for Windows
Musictop Instruments releases Creatools: Keys, a FREE and open-source synth plugin for Windows. Creatools: Keys is a free and open-source rompler synth plugin built on the HISE framework. This virtual instrument features a wide range of sampled sounds you can edit, layer, and modulate in various ways. Creatools: Keys has a collection of built-in effects, [...]
View post: Musictop Instruments releases FREE Creatools Keys instrument for Windows

Music Tectonics music tech startup competition finalists namedThe Music Tectonics Conference Swimming With Narwhals music tech startup competition has named its 2024 finalists.
The post Music Tectonics music tech startup competition finalists named appeared first on Hypebot.

QUICK HITS: Mellomanic + $6M •  Cargo Indie Distro launches • Audoo adds Advisors • Believe names Managing DirectorSuperfan platform Mellomanic (formerly We Are Giant) has announced the closing of a $6 million funding round, bringing the total capital raised to $13.8 million dollars.
The post QUICK HITS: Mellomanic + $6M •  Cargo Indie Distro launches • Audoo adds Advisors • Believe names Managing Director appeared first on Hypebot.

Musicians: Don’t Give Up! Success May Be Right Around the CornerSuccess as a musician can be illusive and it's natural to get discouraged. But our message is simple: musicians, don't give up! Keep trying, because success may be right around the corner.
The post Musicians: Don’t Give Up! Success May Be Right Around the Corner appeared first on Hypebot.

UVI’s World Suite 3 offers “unmatched” global instrument libraryBack in 2021, UVI‘s World Suite 2 gave producers an impressively comprehensive sound library with software instruments from India, South America and, well, all around the world, basically. And now it’s time for another trip around the globe; World Suite 3 is here.
We gave World Suite 2 a perfect 10/10, but World Suite 3 arrives to give its predecessor a run for its money. The sound library comes with 46 new instruments, offering sounds from Native America all the way back to ancient Greece. And that’s on top of the 369 instruments World Suite 2 already had to offer.

READ MORE: Our favourite plugins, effects and VST instruments released this week

Every instrument has been meticulously recorded to sound as authentic as possible. It’s a library that UVI argues is “unmatched”, and it’s been compiled and recorded with the utmost care and attention to detail.
Each instrument is kitted out with its own unique controls. The intricate, instrument-specific controls allow users to tweak sounds to a detailed level, all the while not compromising the raw texture of the instrument.
UVI has also loaded World Suite 3 with over 1,900 presets, as well as over 80,000 samples, loops and phrases, providing you with an unimaginably vast library ripe and ready for experimentation.

World Suite 3 also offers a smoother user experience with a shiny new user interface. While its predecessor boasted a nifty search function, allowing you to peruse by Region and Instrument Type, World Suite 3 also offers a reimagined way to discover new sounds.
The World Traveller and Voice Traveller exploration functions encourage users to step out of their comfort zone. The functions make it easier than ever to find bold new sounds, a colourful interface tempting you to experiment. Whether it be toying with some South American Bossa Drums, or maybe trying out the African Juju Bass, UVI has made experimentation simple, quick and easy.

Voice Traveller works in a similar fashion, unifying sounds by region and voice types, making it simpler to explore and experiment with different vocal traditions from across the globe.
World Suite 3 offers native 64-bit stand-alone operation with Falcon or UVI’s Workstation. It also provides support for all your favourite DAWs.
World Suite 3 is available now, with a special introductory price of $199 / 199€. After 30th September, it will hike up to $299 / 299€. For more information, head to UVI.
The post UVI’s World Suite 3 offers “unmatched” global instrument library appeared first on MusicTech.

France’s recorded music market generated $450m in H1, as paid subscription revenues grow 11.3% YoYSixteen of the top 20 albums in France in H1 2024 were domestically produced
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MIDI Innovation Awards Show 2024 As this year’s MIDI Innovation Awards draw to a close, The MIDI Association will be hosting a streamed event on their YouTube channel to showcase the finalists and select the winners.

Why Justin Jay quit releasing tracks and started tutoring other music producersMaking music is supposed to be fun.
It sounds obvious, but many artists get lost in the Sisyphusian struggle of making whatever genre is popular at the time to reach a certain goal. They may push a boulder up a hill and reach that goal, only to realise there’s a newer, bigger goal — and the boulder comes tumbling down again.

READ MORE: NERO talks production, plugins and modern dubstep: “There’s always a Depeche Mode influence in what we do”

Justin Jay, the seasoned producer, DJ, label boss, and educator, chooses not to follow this pattern.
“You can do whatever you want. You can speed up the BPM. You can change the drum beats. You can sample other things and just explore,” Jay says. “People can often be trapped by really arbitrary ideas in their own heads, and once they realize that you’re actually free to do whatever you want you can have so much fun.”
A few years ago, Jay was so lost in the Sisyphusian cycle that it eviscerated his mental health. He found himself planted in front of his laptop, letting the blue light erode his corneas as he grinded away until sunrise — making music for money, not music he loved.
When he realised continuing that way wasn’t sustainable, he quit touring and moved back in with his parents to separate himself from the music industry. In that phase, he became self-aware that he wanted to be an artist who creates whatever he wants; that’s what he did on his third album, You Are The One.
Image: Press
Across the 12 tracks on the record, Jay’s uncaged attitude shines through. From the soulful house of the opener, I’ll Always Love You, to the seething UK garage-tinged Walk Away, then to the classic trance sound of You’re Fake, this album keeps the listener guessing from start to finish.
But it always sounds like Justin Jay, thanks to the intense energy he put into the songwriting for this particular record. Songwriting is now his baseline for manipulating different sounds and genres.
“For so much music, it’s not about doing something new with the sounds. It’s actually about using the exact sounds that we’re used to to create an illusion or create a feel that is nostalgic or whatever. I think it’s super fun, because then it becomes more about the songwriting, which is my favorite part,” Jay says.
In fact, that was one thing he was struggling with when he took his hiatus from music. He was scared of the vulnerability of sharing his songwriting and the authentic elements of that like lyrics. Now he is facing that fear head-on:
“We make music to express ourselves. The more we can do that honestly, the better,” Jay says.

When he returned to music, he started writing songs with new band, Fantastic Voyage (also the name of his record label). The band featured some of his close friends and fellow musicians. Together they released tracks such as What Do You Want and Can’t Complain, and they performed at various major US festivals including Bonnaroo and Dirtybird Campout.
Then the pandemic made touring impossible. The band dissolved and in those two years without gigs, most of Jay’s bandmates moved on from music to other careers.
Jay was back to making music by himself. Except he now had the confidence to write songs that reflected his authentic feelings, and he was facing isolation along with all the other complicated experiences that came with the pandemic. This is the phase when he wrote most of the songs on You Are The One.
In listening to the underlying composition beneath the electronics, the album sounds quite a bit like a breakup record. On the acoustic-guitar-driven Reflections, he sings: “I got some things to improve on. I got some things to admit/If I keep lying to you. How will you ever forgive?”
Then on the folk acoustic album closer, On My Own (Ft. Austin), Austin sings: “I must be changing because I can’t wait to move on.”

But despite this sombre messaging, he didn’t write this music to get over a breakup. He wrote it to depict what it’s like to be in a situation of unrequited love.
“I look at this album as this self-help exploration which comes with some challenges. But ultimately can be really positive,” Jay says. “There’s a lot in a situation like that that you cannot control. It’s really important to shift focus onto what you can control, which is yourself.”
He shifted his focus towards cultivating inner strength and independence. Since then, his production pallet started expanding exponentially and it hasn’t slowed down.
In the first part of 2024, he travelled around the US making music with different dubstep and bass artists such as Chef Boyarbeatz and Bauuer. They gave him a crash course in different sound design techniques, leading to Jay’s debut bass EP on Zeds Dead’s label, Deadbeats, titled Wait For The Drop.
Image: Press
Jay also ventured into the far reaches of techno when he travelled to Berlin to work with an underground artist named Freeman 713.
“I’ve never made music with anyone who is so particular about techno,” Jay says. “He makes tracks that don’t have breakdowns, that are the most elite, hypnotic techno. That could not have been a more different experience from anything I’ve done all year.”
While he respects and enjoys that each subgenre is different, all this experimentation helped him to understand where these different genres overlap. That’s what allows him to link them so fluidly within his productions and DJ sets.
“The difference can be, ‘What are the drums?’ Then you change the drums. Now it’s a different subgenre..” Jay says. “It’s all much more similar than one might think.”
In fact, one of the challenges of You Are The One stemmed from the similarities. After diving deep into making so many different subgenres (an experience he equates to the grad school of music production), he had to contain himself to ensure the album felt like a cohesive body of work as opposed to a hodgepodge of all his musical interests.
Image: Press
“The aspiration during COVID was to push the absolute limits of chaos and eclecticism; making it as varied as possible. It took a couple of years for me to figure out that this album doesn’t need to be everything. It can be more focused,” Jay says.
His songwriting was key to making the album more focused, but so were his production methods. For example, a sample pack he heavily relied on to make You Are The One was the JungleJungle Sample Pack, a completely free collection of sounds from jungle tracks produced between 1989 and 1999.
According to Jay, this sample pack is part of the DNA of all electronic music. Labels such as Shall Not Fade and Lobster Theremin have the samples all over their catalogues, he adds.
“It’s funny because it is all just illegal samples of other people’s songs, but just really short snips,” Jay says. “The key for making something nostalgic can sometimes just be using something old.”
Image: Press
Jay also applied this approach to his synths as well. He frequently used Rave Generator 2, which is similar to JungleJungle but lets you chromatically play samples from old rave tracks.
“Justice, on their most recent album [Hyperdrama], has a song called Generator. They used all the Rave Generator sounds,” Jay says before going on to revel in the rumour that Justice made their legendary debut album on Garageband. “It’s so sick that you can hear a masterpiece like Cross by Justice and be like, ‘Wait this was made on a piece of software that literally, everyone has access to for free on their computer’.”
This is the exact approach Jay passes on to his students. He has been teaching Ableton courses since 2019, many of which are free, and all anyone needs to join the class is a computer that can run a free trial of Ableton.
When Jay makes music, he uses his laptop and a pair of Bose earbuds. One time when he was on a call with a student, Jay said the word “balls” into his earbud mic. That sample became the track Ballz which John Summit played to a sold-out crowd at BMO stadium in Los Angeles.
Jay’s put out numerous collaborations with his students. The title track from his Deadbeats EP was produced with one of his students, Bayer & Waits. He also released a hard groove single called Back to the Groove with student coldsweat.
Image: Press
“I don’t know why every producer doesn’t teach. I’ve experienced the most amount of technical growth in the past years since I’ve started teaching,” Jay says. But improving his own skills is only a bonus he gets from teaching. “I was just in Vienna, Austria and I didn’t remember the absurd percentage of famous classical composers that are all from this one city. Part of the reason is each great composer taught the next great composer. They all taught each other.”
While Jay is too humble to compare himself to the Viennese masters like Hadyn, Mozart, and Beethoven, the principle is the same. He is teaching a new generation of music producers to make music based on one idea: having fun.
The post Why Justin Jay quit releasing tracks and started tutoring other music producers appeared first on MusicTech.

Novation on the future of MIDI control and why Launchkey MK4 is “a big step forward”If you walk into a major studio anywhere in the world, there’s a strong chance you’ll find a Focusrite Novation product. Since its 1992 inception, Novation’s created some of the most iconic synths of that decade as well as developing specialised MIDI controllers, notably the Launchpad family which began a long-running collaboration with Ableton that continues to this day. In 2013 came the first Launchkey keyboard controller and now, over a decade later, Novation’s fourth generation of Launchkeys has arrived in a range of sizes to suit different users’ needs.
The question is, will they keep Novation at the forefront of cutting edge studio control, and who exactly are they designed for?
Novation Launchkeys. Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
There are six Launchkey models in total, sharing a core set of features with slight differences depending on the physical size of the models, from the Launchkey MINI 25 up to the Launchkey 61. But who are these different controller keyboards aimed at? “It’s not that there’s one particular and specific customer that might want to use a given model, it’s more tied to a use case,” says Novation product manager Mario Buoninfante. “You can have a professional musician that plays five gigs per week, every week of the year, that might want to use a smaller keyboard because of its portability because it fits better in their setup.”
He continues, “for those who are just getting started on their music journey, it might be that they want to start with [a controller] that feels more manageable, both from a price point of view and in terms of services. Then maybe a more advanced user or someone that’s not travelling might prefer the 49 or 61 key version. But what’s important is that the core functionality is the same across all the models.”
The MK4 will also work with USB-C-equipped iPads, meaning it can be used with Logic Pro for iPad, though at present there’s no direct template. But even where an app isn’t natively supported, you’re able to create custom maps instead.
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
While the models have very similar core functions, their varying sizes result in a few physical differences. Hence only the larger 49 and 61 key models have faders and fader buttons, while the two Mini models have dual touch strips in place of the more conventional pitch and mod wheels found on the other units – though crucially all of this can be re-mapped to suit your needs. Thanks to their greater number of keys, the 49 and 61 permit MIDI zoning and layering, and the two smallest models have 3.5mm MIDI outputs while the larger boxes sport regular five-pin ports.
As Mario explains when discussing the changes from version 3 of the Launchkey family, the controllers’ ability to function independently of a computer makes them feel more like instruments than ever before. “A big thing is that all the creative tools that have been made part of the firmware, which makes it feel like an instrument, it’s a big step forward compared to the Mark 3. And then there are some really nice upgrades on the mechanical side of things like the overall design, the overall feeling, buttons and encoders instead of fixed pots, and sliders with a good length as well. On the 49 and 61, there’s been a big upgrade to the key mechanism.”
The controllers still integrate with all the major DAWs and especially tightly with Ableton Live, with upgraded Launchpad-style backlit pads now featuring polyphonic aftertouch meaning they are pressure-sensitive for more expressive performance. This tech sadly doesn’t extend to the keybeds since doing so would have added both to the cost and the bulk of the units, something Novation was keen to avoid. And, unlike the MK3, there is currently no 88-key version of the MK4 — though our impression from our conversation is that we wouldn’t be surprised to see one unveiled soon.
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
The controllers’ MIDI functions are now baked into the firmware meaning their tools including Scale and Chord modes. Meanwhile, the eight-step generative arpeggiator can be used directly connected to MIDI hardware like modular gear or grooveboxes with no computer involved. So it’s truly a standalone controller or can just as easily unite the hardware and software sides of your setup.
Although there’s plenty of visual feedback on the hardware itself, Novation also released the Components app, which runs either on your desktop or via a browser. This lets you manage and customise its setup, uploading and downloading templates or bespoke patches.
Mario explains that Components is essentially “a librarian that lets you create custom templates so that you can configure every single control on the device in terms of faders and encoders and paths to send whatever MIDI message you need to send. It goes from the more common standard CC messages but it also deals with more complex ones like 14-bit CC messages, so it’s quite comprehensive.”
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
At this point in the chat, we’re joined by Sam Counihan, senior product manager and previously with Moog and Ableton for a number of years. He adds that “you also can map keystrokes. So as shortcuts become ever more convoluted there’s more and more added into each application. It’s a nice way to cut back on that complexity and keep you within the context of the controller”.
We ask Sam what he thinks producers look for in a MIDI controller in 2024 that perhaps they might not have sought out a decade ago.
“When you’re working with hardware that connects to software,” he says, “there’s a significant difference in what you’re interacting with and the amount of recontextualization, reorientation you need to do when you go from looking at what’s in front of you, to what’s on the screen.
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
“We think that offering many of these functions and tools within the MIDI controllers allows you to reduce that cognitive strain, that left-right brain interrupt that can get in the way of having the idea and expressing it. A MIDI keyboard is never going to completely replace the computer keyboard and mouse. But what we can do is, when you’re in those flow moments of creativity, keeping those in one context and one control surface and probably not having every option under the sun but some sort of constraints helps your creativity. That’s what’s exciting about MIDI controllers.”
Mario agrees that the way to make MIDI controllers better is to improve their smarts rather than necessarily adding hundreds of hardware features which inevitably affects both the size and the cost of the hardware. “When we speak about the evolution of MIDI controllers, clearly a deeper and more in-depth integration with software is required — we’re delivering that with this product.”
The developers also plan to upgrade and enhance the system’s functionality going forward via firmware updates. However, they’re not convinced that anything significant was omitted from the MK4 generation due to cost constraints. Sam comments, “I’d like to think that we make as good products as anybody. And we put a lot of effort into trying to get the best result at the price point in terms of the musical experience, the robustness of the product, the level of integration.”
Mario agrees, telling us, “we really take a lot of pride and we spend endless conversations and hours working and tweaking every single little detail that ended up being part of the product. Of course, you always want to push things further but we’re already providing from the get-go a really rich set of features.”
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
Sam continues, “I couldn’t honestly sit here and say if only we’d done X, then it would be X, as opposed to what it is. We do have room to move with the firmware. That’s something we can play with and build on user feedback with later updates. So I think we’re really keen to just get them out to users. We’ve had some great feedback from reviewers, and we have an excellent beta group with feature requests and tweaks. There’s no shortage of ideas about where we can go within the constraints of the hardware we’ve got, but it doesn’t feel like anything’’s missing.”
The Launchkey MK4 family seems to tick a lot of boxes, from the pre-mapped support for multiple DAWs, the modularity of working both as a standalone and a software controller and the flexibility to configure every parameter exactly as you want. USB power and an impressive set of performance tools like scale, chord and pressure-sensitive pads make them powerful performers with even the smallest, hyper-portable Mini models featuring sustain pedal inputs and MIDI output. There’s also a generous software bundle, again common to every model that includes Live Lite, software instruments and effects from Klevgrand, orchestral tools and GForce and the Melodics app to help you learn to play.
As we seek to blur the lines ever more between our studio hardware and software, developers like Novation are spending a great deal of effort refining and streamlining these workflows with an understanding that it’s more important to strike a balance between functionality and efficiency – to keep you creating and in the moment – than to necessarily provide an avalanche of features. And, to keep things affordable enough that all musicians can take advantage of these tools. With the Launchkey MK4 and the work that Novation is continuing to put into empowering players and producers, it’s an exciting time to be a musician – with even more sure to come.
The post Novation on the future of MIDI control and why Launchkey MK4 is “a big step forward” appeared first on MusicTech.

New Toys: The Fender On-the-Go Amplifier (Mustang Micro Plus)Fender has released the latest version of its most versatile on-the-go mini amplifier, the Mustang Micro Plus. Building on the success of The Mustang Micro launched in 2021, this new update offers personal guitar amplification that fits in your pocket and has a wide selection of tones, amp models, and effects from popular Mustang Series amps. 

The Mustang Micro Plus now has 25 guitar amplifier models and 25 effects combinations. Classic Fender tones can be quickly and easily dialed in anywhere. As the name Micro Plus implies, this device is just a bit larger than a pack of Tic Tacs. It plugs straight into your electric guitar, and musicians can effortlessly select from a variety of amp models tailored to their musical style. And as you would expect from Fender, the jack is designed to plug in easily even if your guitar has a recessed jack, like on a Telecaster.

Right out of the box, 70 different sounds are ready to go for hours of inspiration. From creamy clean swirling chorused echoes to clean jazz, '70s hard rock to '90s metal… any guitar player should be able to find some great sounds they will enjoy right away. Each preset has nine different EQ presets available. The integrated LED display is bright and clear, and the built-in tuner works well.

A metronome with a Tap feature can help you find and set a tempo right away. You can use your favorite headphones wired with a mini plug or connect to ear buds via Bluetooth to enjoy the stereo sounds. If you spend a lot of time with the Micro Plus, you may do well to memorize all the buttons as you can’t really see them once the unit is plugged in, but you can change them by touch.

The level of sophistication and power in this little amp is huge, but don’t let that scare you. It is easy to navigate. Musicians can save and instantly recall their favorite amp and effect settings with the 100 editable presets. If you want to get deep into saving presets, programming and getting other players programs, the Micro Plus is compatible with the Fender Tone: iOS and Android app for use with your tablet or phone. Additionally, it has Bluetooth audio streaming with audio/video sync to enable playing along in real-time with your favorite music. 

The Micro Plus ships with 6 months free of Studio One+, the Digital Audio Workstation and music creation “ecosystem” partnership with PreSonus and Fender. $129.00

fender.comThe post New Toys: The Fender On-the-Go Amplifier (Mustang Micro Plus) first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.