Could DC Snares be the drum plugin that makes sample packs obsolete?£49, Plugin Boutique 
The brainchild of multi-award-winning Australian producer Davide Carbone, DC Snares is designed to revolutionise how you create and manipulate percussion. Drawing from his experience in techno group FSOM, remixing high-profile artists like Moby, and designing sound and music for Jaguar car adverts, Carbone’s product is a highly versatile drum engine that goes so much further than just snares.

READ MORE: Are KIT Plugins’ BB F66 and F67 convincing emulations of classic Fairchild compressors?

So, can this plugin replace sample packs, removing the need to paw through thousands of one-shots to find the perfect fit? And if so, is it worth Plugin Boutique’s £49 asking price? There’s certainly a strong case. With its four-slot sound engine, versatile effects, and deep modulation options, DC Snares offers a level of creative control and variety that’s hard to find in sample packs.
For producers seeking a quick fix, its complexity might feel like overkill — but for meticulous sound design geeks, this plugin opens doors to infinite percussive possibilities.
What is DC Snares?
Beneath the Layers
At the core of DC Snares are four sample playback slots, letting you layer different sounds together to create new combinations. The plugin comes with a comprehensive library of bundled samples, ranging from classic rims, snaps, claps, and snare sounds to orchestral booms, longer experimental textures, and characterful vinyl crackle.
Honestly, these sounds are almost worth the price of admission alone. You’re getting 684 samples in total, spanning an incredibly wide range of timbres. This strong foundation makes DC Snares such a powerful percussion tool. In addition, you can drop in your own sounds, or opt for one of three synth engines (sine, noise, and pitched noise), perfect for creating kicks and hats from scratch or augmenting a snare’s low end with a sine tone.
Envelopes
Each sample slot features independent envelopes for amplitude and pitch, providing flexibility when it comes to crafting unique, detailed sounds. In the example below, we apply an aggressive pitch envelope to a sine wave, dial in a rim click for a bit of high-end snap, and layer vinyl crackle on top to achieve a dusty kick drum with a hip-hop vibe.
You might be doing this already within a sample-based workflow in the DAW but DC Snares makes it effortless to creatively blend different elements. To finish things off, we pick out a simple rim sample for the snare and an intriguingly distorted melodic sound.

DC Snares advanced drum synthesis

Advanced Parameters
If all you want to do is layer a couple of samples and maybe tweak an envelope or two, DC Snares’ compact default view gets the job done. But for more involved drum design, clicking the Advanced button opens up a panel of additional controls — and a world of sonic possibilities along with it.
Each sample gets an effects chain with six slots. You can stock these with utilities like EQ, compression, or gating, but we don’t find that necessary given the already high quality of bundled sounds. Instead, we have a lot more fun with the two most creative effects in the set — Resonator and Sizzler.
The former is ideal for transforming percussive content into tonal sounds, while the latter is designed to emulate how snare wires react in physical space. Undoubtedly, you can use it as such for more traditional sounds, but it’s also a quick and dirty way to create the harsher, metallic timbres that you might hear from artists like SOPHIE or Flume.
Check out the example below where we create an unconventional hi-hat with automation on the Sizzler pitch control.

The available dynamic and spectral effects do get the job done but aren’t as effective as your dedicated plugins — no surprises there. The reverb and delay aren’t desperately inspiring either, but remain useful when you’re working quickly or simply getting a vibe going.
If you really want to get your hands dirty, four envelopes can be assigned to many parameters across the plugin. Don’t be afraid to experiment here — it doesn’t take much to freshen up your percussive palette.
Beyond the Snare
Given its versatility, it feels like DC Snares’ name is selling this plugin a little short. It excels in creating all kinds of sounds — and not just those in your typical drum kit either. With each patch chromatically mapped to the piano keys, it doesn’t take long to find seeds from which to grow new loops and tracks.
If you’ve tried synthesising drums from scratch before, you’ll already know you can do an awful lot with a single sine wave. In the following example, we create an aggressive, mutating bass sound by modulating the pitch, the Resonator and Sizzler effects, and a healthy dose of saturation.

Sure, you could do all this in your favourite synth plugin but breaking out of your routine and using more unconventional methods for sound design might inspire some fresh ideas.
Randomisation
Randomiser
Another feature cementing DC Snares as an invaluable creative tool is its randomiser function, allowing you to generate new sounds instantly. It feels a bit like flicking through a sample pack — a process familiar to most producers — except you’re never going to run out of options.
An engaging way to explore the plugin’s potential, we actually spend considerable time using the randomiser. We used it to make each sound in the following example.

Given that you’re rolling the dice each time, reaching the desired result can take a few attempts. In this regard, the randomiser is sorely missing a setting lock to maintain parameters while experimenting.
On the plus side, almost everything it churns out is usable, and if you’re tired of your usual sounds, it doesn’t take long to find something that grabs your attention.
Is DC Snares worth the cost?
If you love crafting detailed drum sounds and don’t mind spending the time to finetune them, DC Snares may be the perfect fit. It’s a highly flexible tool that rewards creative exploration, and in our view, going beyond conventional snare sounds is where it really shines.
If you don’t have the patience for tweaking parameters, a simpler sample pack might suit you better – but given the randomiser and thoughtfully curated presets, even those short on time will get mileage from this plugin.
What’s more, DC Snares definitely delivers value for money — £49 is comparable to what you’d spend on just one or two premium sample packs. And whether you’re making your first foray into drum synthesis or you’re a seasoned sound designer, it’s hard to put a price on the ideas this plugin might inspire.

Key Features

Four playback slots for samples, sine waves, or noise
Independent pitch and amplitude envelopes for each layer
Four assignable envelopes
684 high-quality sounds included
Six effects slots for each layer, plus two bus sends and four master effects slots
Choose from 12 effects including dynamics, saturation, Sizzler and Resonator
Inspiring randomiser function
Real-time waveform displays
Play samples chromatically on the keyboard
Organise sounds using the preset browser

The post Could DC Snares be the drum plugin that makes sample packs obsolete? appeared first on MusicTech.

This vintage Helios mixing console is selling for $2.5 million — here’s whyFancy yourself a piece of music history for a cool $2.5 million? Well, you’re in luck. The Helios mixing desk famously used to record Bob Marley’s timeless classic No Woman, No Cry, is now up for sale.

READ MORE: “I always feel like everything could be better – I finished this album eight times”: Jamie xx reflects on new solo record, In Waves

According to vintage gear marketplace Retro Gear Shop, where the Helios is currently listed, the unit was only recently pulled from its previous owner’s home recording studio: “We went to Jamaica in person to acquire this desk,” states the listing.
Believed to have been manufactured in 1973 and still in full working order, this 20-input, 16-output Helios console spent years at the Harry J Studio in Kingston, Jamaica. Its storied past includes contributions to Bob Marley’s first four studio albums (Soul Rebels, Catch a Fire, Burnin’, Natty Dread) and collaborations with reggae legends like Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Augustus Pablo, King Tubby, and Dennis Brown.
Nicknamed the ‘Dub Station’, the console comes in a striking teal finish, and will be sold with a pair of matching colour Yamaha NS10 speakers.
Image: Retro Gear Shop
“Helios consoles are very rare to come by, who knows many other complete Helios consoles are still left available in the world,” Retro Gear says. “Rough estimates put it at only a couple dozen. Most have been parted out for their amazing analog preamp/ equaliser channels.”
“The Helios sound is absolutely legendary, with artists including Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, Roxy Music and many more having recorded through Helios consoles.”
Priced at a staggering $2.5 million, if sold, the Helios will eclipse the EMI TG12345 MK IV – the iconic mixing desk that recorded Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon and sold for $1.8 million in 2017 — as the most expensive console ever sold.
Learn more at Retro Gear Shop.
The post This vintage Helios mixing console is selling for $2.5 million — here’s why appeared first on MusicTech.

Kavinsky is teasing an ‘Olympics Version’ release of NightcallKavinsky is teasing a new version of his song Nightcall, which recently broke a record after his performance of the 2010 track at the Olympics closing ceremony in Paris earlier this summer.
At the ceremony, which took place in August, Kavinsky performed the track at the Stade de France along with Belgian singer Angèle. His set fitted among performances from Phoenix, Air and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig.

READ MORE: “If people hear a slight mistake, it doesn’t matter because they know you’re there doing it”: Nero’s Dan Stephens on live sets

Following his set, Nightcall broke the record for the most Shazam’d song in a single day. It currently has over 7,239,192 Shazams on the music discovery platform at the time of writing. Now, Kavinsky is seemingly teasing a re-release of the track, which is reportedly a revamped version, as performed at the closing ceremony.
Kavinsky, Phoenix and Angèle have all shared the same teaser via their social media channels. It features a billboard with the names of each artist on it, an image of Kavinsky’s beloved Ferrari Testarossa, and a phone number.
Upon calling the number, a short message from Kavinsky, Phoenix and Angèle plays back before a short snippet of the song. No official release date or further information has yet been provided.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Phoenix (@wearephoenix)

Following the ceremony in Paris, other artists who also performed at the event saw their tracks soar on Shazam too, with Phoenix’s Lisztomania and Billie Eilish’s Birds Of A Feather also having climbed the platform’s chart.
Nightcall was originally produced with Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, and first featured singer Lovefoxxx. It gained mainstream popularity after featuring in the 2011 film, Drive. Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars shared that he was originally asked to sing on the track, but he turned it down as he “thought the song was perfect” and didn’t need his voice.
The post Kavinsky is teasing an ‘Olympics Version’ release of Nightcall appeared first on MusicTech.

Real-world asset tokenization is the crypto killer app — Polygon execAccording to Colin Butler, financial institutions that don't embrace blockchain technology will lose their relevancy and competitive edge. 

TikTok says that over one in four of Germany’s Top 100 singles of 2023 was popular on its platform before becoming a chart hit in the market'TikTok has disrupted the way hits are created and in doing so, in a sense, started a democratization of the music industry,' said Charlotte Stahl, Head of Music partnerships, EMEA
Source

Bluesky addresses trust and safety concerns around abuse, spam, and moreThe company is in various stages of developing and piloting a range of initiatives focused on dealing with bad actors, harassment, spam, fake accounts, video safety, and more.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Upgraded Raster Laser Projector Goes RGBWe’ve covered a scanning laser project by Ben Make’s Everything last year, and now he’s back with a significant update. [Ben]’s latest project now offers a higher resolution and RGB lasers. A couple of previous versions of the device used the same concept of a rotating segmented mirror synchronised to a pulsed laser diode to create scanlines. When projected onto a suitable surface, the distorted, pixelated characters looked quite funky, but there was clearly room for improvement.
More scanlines and a faster horizontal pixel rate
The previous device used slightly inclined mirrors to deflect the beam into scanlines, with one mirror per scanline limiting the vertical resolution. To improve resolution, the mirrors were replaced with identically aligned mirrors of the type used in laser printers for horizontal scanning. An off-the-shelf laser galvo was used for vertical scanning, allowing faster scanning due to its small deflection angle. This setup is quicker than then usual vector galvo application, as the smaller movements require less time to complete. Once the resolution improvement was in hand, the controller upgrade to a Teensy 4 gave more processing bandwidth than the previous Arduino and a consequent massive improvement in image clarity.
Finally, monochrome displays don’t look anywhere near as good as an RGB setup. [Ben] utilised a dedicated RGB laser setup since he had trouble sourcing the appropriate dichroic mirrors to match available lasers. This used four lasers (with two red ones) and the correct dichroic mirrors to combine each laser source into a single beam path, which was then sent to the galvo. [Ben] tried to find a DAC solution fast enough to drive the lasers for a proper colour-mixing input but ended up shelving that idea for now and sticking with direct on-off control. This resulted in a palette of just seven colours, but that’s still a lot better than monochrome.
The project’s execution is excellent, and care was taken to make it operate outdoors with a battery. Even with appropriate safety measures, you don’t really want to play with high-intensity lasers around the house!
Here’s the previous version we covered, a neat DIY laser galvo using steppers, and a much older but very cool RGB vector projector.

Thanks to [Chan] for the tip!

Willie "Prophet" Stiggers Honored with Visionary Award at 2024 SESAC Music AwardsSESAC's Sam Kling, Willie "Prophet" Stiggers, SESAC's Mario Prins  (Photo credit: mèShell studio)

SESAC celebrated its songwriters and music publishers behind the most-performed songs of 2023 across a variety of genres at The Highlight Room in Hollywood last night, September 17, marking the third year the awards took place in Los Angeles.

The event was attended by several top music industry executives, artists, songwriters, and publishers including Bryan Michael Cox, Prophet, Alex Isley, Knox, and Kenyon Dixon, among others.

Jack Harlow continues his winning streak for the fourth year, taking home both Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year with his smash hit “Lovin On Me”. Sony Music Publishing was named Publisher of the Year for the third year in a row, taking home multiple awards including “3D” recorded by Jack Harlow and Jung Kook, as well as “Good Good” recorded by Usher, Summer Walker and 21 Savage, among many others.  

Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) co-founder, president and CEO, Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, was presented with SESAC’s Visionary Award in recognition of the organization’s ongoing work championing artists and creating equity within the music industry. “Prophet’s dedication to equality and racial justice has inspired us all to do more and build a stronger, more equitable creative community. I'm proud to call him a friend," said Mario Prins, VP, Creative Services.  

Additional award-winning writers include Jimmy Napes;Ariana Grande; Green Day; Fede Vindver; and longtime SESAC songwriter, Traci Hale for her co-write with SESAC writer and performer, Burna Boy.  

“We are honored to celebrate our songwriters and publishers,” shared Sam Kling, Chief Creative Officer, SESAC Performing Rights. “It takes so much effort from so many to bring these songs to life, and we’re thrilled to be able to recognize the dedication and talent of our SESAC family.”

Opening the show was SESAC President & COO, Scott Jungmichel and Chief Creative Officer Sam Kling, as well as VP, Creative Services Mario Prins and VP, Creative Services & Operations Diana Akin Scarfo. Artist and SESAC songwriter Tamara Jade, who performed at the 66th GRAMMY Awards with Jon Batiste and recently toured with Doja Cat, served as the MC for the evening for the second year in a row.   

Sponsors for the event included Bombas, EBOOST, Hasbro, Herban Essentials, Pause Wellness Studio, Pura Vida, Purely Elizabeth, Vacation Sunscreen, and Yeti.   

For event highlights, visit @SESAC on Instagram. A full list of winners is available below and at www.sesac.comThe post Willie "Prophet" Stiggers Honored with Visionary Award at 2024 SESAC Music Awards first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

TuneCore says that tracks within its ‘TuneCore Accelerator’ program ‘experienced nearly 10 billion new streams’ in the first half of 2024TuneCore has released the second edition of its 'TuneCore Accelerator Report'
Source

FLOSS Weekly Episode 801: JBang — Not Your Parents Java AnymoreThis week Jonathan Bennett and Jeff Massie chat with Max Rydahl Andersen about JBang, the cross-platform tool to run Java as a system scripting language. That’s a bit harder than it sounds, particularly to take advantage of Java’s rich debugging capabilities and the ecosystem of libraries that are available. Tune in to get the details, as well as how polyglot files are instrumental to making JBang work!

https://www.jbang.dev/
https://maxandersen.github.io/getting-started-with-java-the-jbang-way/
https://xam.dk

Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show Right on our YouTube Channel? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or contact the guest and have them contact us! Take a look at the schedule here.

Direct Download in DRM-free MP3.
If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.
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Universal Audio announce Volt USB Recording Studios Universal Audio have announced a change to their range of Volt audio interfaces, which now come bundled with a range of software that provides users with an all-in-one recording and mixing package.

Kavinsky is teasing an ‘Olympics Version’ release of NightcallKavinsky is teasing a new version of his song Nightcall, which recently broke a record after his performance of the 2010 track at the Olympics closing ceremony in Paris earlier this summer.
At the ceremony, which took place in August, Kavinsky performed the track at the Stade de France along with Belgian singer Angèle. His set fitted among performances from Phoenix, Air and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig.

READ MORE: “If people hear a slight mistake, it doesn’t matter because they know you’re there doing it”: Nero’s Dan Stephens on live sets

Following his set, Nightcall broke the record for the most Shazam’d song in a single day. It currently has over 7,239,192 Shazams on the music discovery platform at the time of writing. Now, Kavinsky is seemingly teasing a re-release of the track, which is reportedly a revamped version, as performed at the closing ceremony.
Kavinsky, Phoenix and Angèle have all shared the same teaser via their social media channels. It features a billboard with the names of each artist on it, an image of Kavinsky’s beloved Ferrari Testarossa, and a phone number.
Upon calling the number, a short message from Kavinsky, Phoenix and Angèle plays back before a short snippet of the song. No official release date or further information has yet been provided.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Phoenix (@wearephoenix)

Following the ceremony in Paris, other artists who also performed at the event saw their tracks soar on Shazam too, with Phoenix’s Lisztomania and Billie Eilish’s Birds Of A Feather also having climbed the platform’s chart.
Nightcall was originally produced with Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, and first featured singer Lovefoxxx. It gained mainstream popularity after featuring in the 2011 film, Drive. Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars shared that he was originally asked to sing on the track, but he turned it down as he “thought the song was perfect” and didn’t need his voice.
The post Kavinsky is teasing an ‘Olympics Version’ release of Nightcall appeared first on MusicTech.

“I always feel like everything could be better – I finished this album eight times”: Jamie xx reflects on new solo record, In WavesHow do you know when a track is truly finished? As producers, we’re probably all guilty of not knowing when to call it a day and wrap things up. Maybe that snare needs a little more 4kHz. Could I re-record that bassline and get a better take? It’s a problem which afflicts Jamie xx.

READ MORE: “I used to be very shy but I would observe what everyone was dancing to and what worked”: How The xx’s Romy found her confidence as a DJ

He’s about to release his second studio album In Waves – its official release date is Friday, 20 September – but as he recalls in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, knowing when to call the album a done deal proved difficult.
“I always feel like everything could be better,” he explains. “That’s why it took so long for me to finish this album because I finished it eight times and then there was always this bit in me that felt like it could be one better.”
He later adds: “This time, I’ve enjoyed finishing this album more than I’ve enjoyed finishing anything. Usually it’s a bit of a slog and this time one of the reasons why it took so long is because I was just having so much fun with the finer details, working out the track list, so it really felt like an album.”
In Waves was recorded over a period of four years, and five singles from its 12-song tracklist have already been released: Baddy on the Floor, Treat Each Other Right, Life, All You Children and Dafodil.

Elsewhere in the interview, Jamie xx touches on whether he strives to make a record that’s specifically dance music, or whether he aims to simply create music and let things flow.
“With this album, it mattered to me more because when I was in lockdown I was starting to get excited about the idea of playing shows again,” he says. “I was excited about this new music I was making and I wanted to be able to play it so it had to fit in the way that I perform, which is DJing.
“Also, my favourite thing to do in the studio is just to dance around on my own. It usually ends up with some danceable element to it.”
Back in January, Jamie xx’s bandmate Romy confirmed that the xx were back in the studio together working on new music.
Also in the new Apple Music interview, Jamie reflects on what it’s been like working once again with his xx bandmates.
“It’s just nice to be back together doing what we do,” he says. “It’s very natural. I’ve worked with a lot of people in the last few years and the chemistry that we have is noticeably so different. It’s hard to explain.”
He goes on: “It’s always difficult to make an album and especially when it’s a compromise between three people. And again, after this time of us all doing separate things, coming back together, I’ve realised just to embrace it and enjoy it and I think I’m enjoying the difficulty of it as well now, which is nice…
“We are all in very different places mentally and in our lives outside of music. It’s more of a challenge, but I think that that was the point of us all going out and donig this and now it’s about bringing it back in. And the challenge is going to make the album what it is and I think going to make it the best one yet, but it’s going to be more effort.
Jamie xx’s new album In Waves arrives Friday, 20 September. You can listen to his full conversation with Zane Lowe from 6pm BST, Wednesday 18 September on Apple Music.
The post “I always feel like everything could be better – I finished this album eight times”: Jamie xx reflects on new solo record, In Waves appeared first on MusicTech.

Labels vs Distribution: The Lines Are Blurring [Jay Gilbert]Learn the difference between labels and distribution and how those lines are blurring as each shifts focus and adds or subtracts services to better compete for talent.
The post Labels vs Distribution: The Lines Are Blurring [Jay Gilbert] appeared first on Hypebot.

Wavea Flite is a FREE Multi-Sampler plugin for Windows and macOS
Wavea releases Flite, a multi-sampler and synth plugin for macOS and Windows. Wavea’s Flite is a new multi-sampler and synth workstation that aims to provide high-end functionality at a lower price, so let’s get straight into the price. Flite has two modes: Play and Creator. You can use Flite in Play mode for free and [...]
View post: Wavea Flite is a FREE Multi-Sampler plugin for Windows and macOS