This M5Stack Game Is Surprisingly AddictiveFor those of us lucky enough to have been at Hackaday Europe in Berlin, there was a feast of hacks at our disposal. Among them was [Vladimir Divic]’s gradients game, software for an M5Stack module which was definitely a lot of fun to play. The idea of the game is simple enough, a procedurally generated contour map is displayed on the screen, and the player must navigate a red ball around and collect as many green ones as possible. It’s navigated using the M5Stack’s accelerometer, which is what makes for the engaging gameplay. In particular it takes a moment to discover that the ball can be given momentum, making it something more than a simple case of ball-rolling.
Underneath the hood it’s an Arduino .ino  file for the M5Stack’s ESP32, and thus shouldn’t present a particular challenge to most readers. Meanwhile the M5Stack with its versatile range of peripherals has made it onto these pages several times over the years, not least as a LoRA gateway.

Steinberg Nuendo 14 arrives Nuendo 14 comes packed with new additions such as a powerful automated mixing assistant, enhanced AI-powered dialogue transcription, sound effects preview capabilities and much more.

UJAM releases Vox Humana ($19), a legendary synth for a great cause
UJAM has partnered with the Bob Moog Foundation and synth ace Alex Ball to release Vox Humana, a recreation of an iconic Polymoog 280A preset. The Vox Humana soft synth is available for $19, and 100% of proceeds go directly to the Bob Moog Foundation. The Polymoog 280A hit the scene in 1978, and around [...]
View post: UJAM releases Vox Humana ($19), a legendary synth for a great cause

“I respect the f**k out of this”: Fans are tipping Steve Duda and Xfer Records for making Serum 2 a free upgradeAfter widespread rumours in recent months, this week saw the release of Serum 2, the second edition of the hugely popular soft synth from Xfer Records.
Serum Creator and Xfer Records co-founder Steve Duda has long been a venerated figure in the world of software synthesizers, and earned himself a new level of respect when he revealed Serum 2 – which adds new oscillators, sequencers and hundreds of presets – would be free for owners of the first edition of Serum.

READ MORE: “Perhaps the best tool ever created for producers of soundtracks and ambient music”: Beetlecrab Tempera review

“Did we mention that Serum 2 is a free upgrade for Serum 1 owners?” Xfer writes on its website. “Lifetime free updates actually means lifetime free updates.”

In response to the free upgrade, one Reddit user writes: “Steve Duda, you’re the man, thank you so much.” Another writes “I respect the fuck out of this. Serum isn’t a synth that makes it on to every project for me, but this makes me want to support them and use it even more now.”
While Xfer Records co-founder and producer/DJ deadmau5 claims he’s been using Serum 2 “for about a year” – no doubt between negotiating a deal which recently saw his catalogue sell for $55 million – for most, Serum 2 is new, and the excitement levels across the producer community are palpable. Here’s what else people are saying so far.
Online forums: People are loving the fact Serum 2 is free
Serum 2 it’s out! byu/HopTzop inserum

A forum is abuzz on Gearspace, again, with many producers commending Steve Duda for offering Serum 2 as a free upgrade.
“Cheers to Steve Duda, definitely could have charged us all $50+ for the upgrade and not gotten much pushback,” one person writes.
We’ve even seen several Serum users tip Xfer Records of their own volition as a thank you to Duda for making Serum 2 a free upgrade.
“FX is quality enough to sell on its own. This is a free update, which is crazy… I donated,” one user writes, while another says: “A free upgrade – donation is easy for being decent.”
On Reddit, one user notes: “I hate how insane tipping culture has gotten but I absolutely dropped a $20 tip on there because this update is huge.”
Echo Sound Works: “This amount of content for free is absolutely brilliant”

Elsewhere, YouTuber Echo Sound Works commends Xfer’s lack of a marketing campaign for Serum 2. “It’s as much of a surprise to me as it probably was to you,” he says. “I had no idea this was coming – I got Beyoncé’d just like everyone else did. Steve Duda was like, ‘We’re just gonna drop this.’ There was no long-lead marketing, it was just here one day.
“I think it’s great. It makes it seem like it’s trying to stand on the merits of its new content and its new features, the content itself as opposed to a hype train with little trailer videos and that kind of stuff.”
He goes on to encourage people to tip Xfer Records where they’re able: “If that tip thing remains and you could send a tip to Xfer and Duda, do that. This amount of content for free is absolutely brilliant.”
Arcade: “This is almost a brand-new plugin”

“Serum 2 is out, and they’ve done it once again,” says YouTuber Arcade. “It’s not a little update. This is almost a brand-new plugin. And if you already have Serum, you get this one for free. Crazy.”
Serum 2 is available now at an introductory price of $189 until 1 June. You can also get it on a rent-to-own plan via Splice. For more info, head to Xfer Records.
The post “I respect the f**k out of this”: Fans are tipping Steve Duda and Xfer Records for making Serum 2 a free upgrade appeared first on MusicTech.

Start recording in Splice Mobile
With Splice Mic, you can instantly test and record ideas, explore genres, and unlock new creative possibilities, all from the Splice mobile app.

Splice Mobile users can now record ideas using Splice Mic: “Before we even get to the studio, we can sketch out melodies and even hooks”Music creation platform and sample library Splice has launched Splice Mic, a new update to Splice Mobile which allows creators to record vocals over instrumentals created within the app.
Since its revamp in 2023, users have been able to use Splice Create’s AI power to generate arrangements – or Stacks – using loops and sounds from the Splice library. Now, Splice Mic enables producers to record vocals or other instruments over the top of those Stacks, using the microphone built into their smartphone.

READ MORE: Clive From Accounts: “Give me a phone and I’ll happily make you tunes all day”

Kenny Ochoa, Splice’s SVP of Content, touches on Splice Mic’s development, noting how the “phone is already a huge part of music making”.
“About one million users have made more than 28 million stacks so far, and now songwriters and producers can record vocal ideas over stacks of samples,” he says. “They can experiment with vocal, lyric, and genre and have even more control over their creative vision. And now those stacks can be merged with vocals.”
To celebrate its exciting new feature, Splice has teamed up with songwriter and DJ Leland – who has worked with the likes of Troye Sivan, Ariana Grande and Charli XCX – and LA’s Laurelvale Studios, inviting teams of songwriters to create Stacks with Create on Splice Mobile.
Songwriters invited to participate in the project – dubbed 60 Second Stack – include Madison Love (Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry), Sarah Hudson (Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa) and Jhart (Usher, Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez).

“We got the team together to see who could start the best new Stacks,” says Leland. “These creative tools are fun to use, and the results take songwriters so much deeper into the finished process. Before we even get to the studio, we can sketch out melodies and even hooks. This is so valuable to our community.”
Designed to make on-the-go collaboration easier than ever, Splice Mobile allows users to share ideas directly within the app, or Airdrop stems into their DAW.
“Musicians are already using voice recording functions on their phones to capture ideas away from the studio,” Splice says. “Splice Mobile takes that idea further, giving songwriters the creative depth of the Splice Sounds catalogue and Create.”
Splice Mic is just the latest push by Splice to make songwriting and creative workflows more seamless. Last year, PreSonus Studio One became the first DAW to integrate Splice, offering millions of royalty-free samples into the Studio One workflow.
Splice Mic is now available in Splice Mobile. For more information, head to Splice.

The post Splice Mobile users can now record ideas using Splice Mic: “Before we even get to the studio, we can sketch out melodies and even hooks” appeared first on MusicTech.

Native Instruments release Maschine 3.1 Following on from last year's major update to version 3, Native Instruments’ ever-popular drum machine and sampling platform has just been treated to its first revision of 2025. 

Bedroom Pop, Music Creation and ‘More Likes, Fewer Gigs’Is the traditional music career model dead? Learn about Bedroom Pop and how a new generation of artists are building fanbases without leaving their bedrooms.
The post Bedroom Pop, Music Creation and ‘More Likes, Fewer Gigs’ appeared first on Hypebot.

New Model For Music Streaming: Play Credits, Curation & More"The long tail is being demonetized," writes Mark Mulligan of MIDiA which will lead to a "groundswell of discontent" among creators. But the analyst finds hope in a new model for music streaming.
The post New Model For Music Streaming: Play Credits, Curation & More appeared first on Hypebot.

“The SEM is nothing but a copy of the Odyssey or a copy of the Minimoog, or a little mixture. But I loved it, and so I wanted to do it”: Tom Oberheim on designing synthsAccording to Tom Oberheim, good design isn’t just about catering to what a musician thinks they want, but about offering something that opens their eyes to new possibilities.
The legendary inventor and engineer recently sat down with Attack Magazine to discuss the creative process behind some of his most iconic synths and the design philosophies that fuel much of his work.

READ MORE: Tom Oberheim stayed up “36 hours straight” to play the first synthesizer he ever bought 

“You can’t simply design what the musician wants, because he or she may not know all the possibilities,” Oberheim says of his approach to synths-making. “And on the other hand, you can’t spend all your time only worrying about the oscillator drift and the power supply and all that. You have to do this grey-area thing.”
Looking back on the development of the Oberheim SEM (short for “synthesizer expansion module”) – one of the world’s first self-contained synth modules, he says, “Of course, I didn’t invent the synthesizer.”
“The SEM is nothing but a copy of the Odyssey or a copy of the Minimoog, or a little mixture,” he adds. “But I loved it, and so I wanted to do it. I think, of course, the polyphonic thing was interesting, but it was just a very short prelude to where everything was polyphonic.”
Oberheim also notes that while the SEM may have been an iteration of earlier designs, his personal touch was in making it accessible – both in terms of usability and cost.
“I think that we were driven more than anything by, number one, reliability,” says the engineer. “The fortunate thing was, for me, when I designed the SEM, I designed the front panel. I did the power supply. The VCOs were designed by Dave Rossum (of E-mu). The filter was designed by the guy that designed the ARP 2600, Dennis Colin. And Jim Cooper did the envelope generators. My contribution to the SEM was that it’s the cheapest, simplest synthesizer that’s still usable.”
The post “The SEM is nothing but a copy of the Odyssey or a copy of the Minimoog, or a little mixture. But I loved it, and so I wanted to do it”: Tom Oberheim on designing synths appeared first on MusicTech.

Best books for music producers in 2025, from synth exploration to creative techniquesThirsty for new creative ideas in your music-making? A little extra knowledge, a fresh perspective, or simply a spark of inspiration can make all the difference.
Sure, the web is packed with freely available resources from YouTube videos to deep-dive production forums. But, sometimes, the best way is the old way — and nothing beats sitting down with a great book.

READ MORE: Brian Eno taught me these 10 lessons in his music-making workshop

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the best music production books available in 2025, giving you a chance to step away from the screen and onto the page. Within these tomes you’ll find practical techniques, expert insights, and plenty of creative philosophy to fuel your sonic explorations. So grab yourself a cuppa and some reading specs, and let’s get started!
Best books for music producers in 2025 at a glance:

Push Turn Move – Kim Bjørn
Patch & Tweak – Kim Bjørn
The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Rubin
Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers – Dennis DeSantis
Dilla Time – Dan Charnas
How Music Works – David Byrne
How Music Works – John Powell
Welsh’s Synthesizer Cookbook – Fred Welsh
The Secrets of Dance Music Production – Attack Magazine
The Music Producer’s Handbook – Bobby Owsinki
Synthesizer Evolution – Oli Freke
Performing Electronic Music Live – Kirsten Hermes
Live Audio: The Art of Mixing a Show – Dave Swallow

Push Turn Move – Kim Bjørn
For synth lovers and gearheads, Push Turn Move is a delight. Packed with stunning photography and detailed explorations of interface designs, it explores the evolution of electronic instruments through interviews and content from pioneers like Jean-Michel Jarre, Dorit Chrysler, and Jesper Kouthoofd of Teenage Engineering fame.
More than just a coffee table book, inside you’ll find valuable insight into how musicians interact with their tools and how that shapes the decisions they make. If you’re fascinated by the intersection of music, design, and technology, this one’s a must-have.
Find out more about Push Turn Move by Kim Bjørn on Amazon here. 
Image: Press
Patch & Tweak – Kim Bjørn
The ultimate guide to modular synthesis, Patch & Tweak demystifies the world of Eurorack and beyond. Whether you’re a beginner getting to grips with the basics or a diehard modular fanatic searching for inspiration, this title covers everything from signal flow to creative patching techniques.
This is the second title from Kim Bjørn on our list — and if you love this one, the rest of the BJOOKS catalogue offers many more lovingly crafted explorations of music technology.
Find out more about Patch & Tweak by Kim Bjørn on Amazon here. 
Image: Bjooks
The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Rubin
Penned by one of modern music’s most influential producers, Rick Rubin’s debut book The Creative Act arrived in 2023. One part reflection on his decades-spanning, genre-defying career, and one part crash course in creative philosophy, this best seller is packed with wisdom.
Exploring concepts like mindfulness, curiosity, and intuition, Rubin offers thought-provoking insights that transcend music, shaping how we approach creativity itself. Whether you’re a musician, writer, or artist, this book is sure to inspire fresh ways of creating.
Find out more about The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin on Amazon here.
Rick Rubin, 2011. Image: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage via Getty Images
Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers – Dennis DeSantis
Making Music is a goldmine of practical advice for overcoming creative roadblocks, courtesy of Ableton’s head of documentation, Dennis DeSantis. Rather than focusing on technical know-how, this book explores the artistic side of music production, offering 74 strategies to spark ideas and push past writer’s block — a bit like if Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies were expanded into a full-length title.
Each section is neatly divided into the three main stages of music production: starting, progressing, and finishing a track. Whether you’re struggling with arrangement, melody, or simply completing one of those many projects lost to the depths of your hard drive, this book provides the tools to keep you moving forward no matter the software you use.
Find out more about Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers by Dennis DeSantis on Amazon here. 
Image: Press
Dilla Time – Dan Charnas
A mixture of biography and musicology, Dilla Time unpacks the genius of J Dilla and his revolutionary approach to rhythm. Throughout the book, Charnas breaks down how Dilla’s signature swing reshaped hip-hop, R&B, and beyond, exploring both his life and the intricacies of his beats.
Combining history, music theory, and cultural analysis to show just how deep his influence runs, this book is an essential read on one of modern music’s most groundbreaking figures.
Find out more about Dilla Time by Dan Charnas on Amazon here. 
J Dilla, 2000. Image: Gregory Bojorquez/Getty Images
How Music Works – David Byrne
In How Music Works, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne takes a broad and philosophical look at music — how it’s shaped by culture, technology, and even the spaces we hear it in.
Blending memoir with deep musical insight, he explores everything from recording techniques to the economics of the modern industry, offering a fascinating perspective on why music sounds the way it does through a mixture of personal stories and big-picture thinking.
Find out more about How Music Works by David Byrne on Amazon here. 
David Byrne performing with an electric guitar in 2018. Image: Jim Bennett/FilmMagic via Getty Images
How Music Works – John Powell
Ever wondered why certain chords sound good together, how our brains interpret rhythm, or what makes a melody memorable? Not to be confused with David Byrne’s book of the same name, John Powell’s How Music Works instead delves into the science of sound.
Both a physicist and composer, Powell takes a lighthearted approach to unpacking the mechanics of music, explaining complex concepts without feeling dry or overly technical. If you want to understand music on a more physical level, this is an easy and enjoyable read.
Find out more about How Music Works by John Powell on Amazon here. 
Welsh’s Synthesizer Cookbook – Fred Welsh
If you’ve ever frequented an online synth forum, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Welsh’s Synthesizer Cookbook. A go-to resource for understanding sound design from the ground up, it’s easy to see why it’s developed somewhat of a cult status among gearheads.
Breaking synthesis down into simple, replicable steps, the book includes a detailed guide to programming classic sounds, complete with charts and diagrams, as well as how to reverse engineer what you’re hearing so you can recreate patches from your favourite tracks.
Find out more about Welsh’s Synthesizer Cookbook by Fred Welsh on Amazon here.
The Secrets of Dance Music Production – Attack Magazine
Compiled by the editors of Attack Magazine, The Secrets of Dance Music Production is a masterclass in exactly what it says on the tin. Dubbed as the “definitive guide to making electronic dance music”, it’s filled with practical, no-nonsense advice, detailed walkthroughs, and industry insights for modern producers.
Filled with handy visuals and step-by-step breakdowns, it’s as easy to digest as it is useful. If you’re looking for a manual for creating house, techno, or bass music, this might just be the closest thing there is.
Find out more about The Secrets of Dance Music Production by Attack Magazine on Amazon here.  
Image: Press
The Music Producer’s Handbook – Bobby Owsinski
Known for his exhaustive guides to various facets of the audio world, Bobby Owsinski shines a light on everything from recording techniques to artist management in The Music Producer’s Handbook.
Packed with practical advice and real-world examples, the book provides insights into the brick-by-brick process of producing a record — whether that’s arrangement, workflow, coaxing the best performance from your singer, or even the politics of dealing with clients.
Find out more about The Music Producer’s Handbook by Bobby Owsinski on Amazon here.
Synthesizer Evolution – Oli Freke
A love letter to the history of synths, Oli Freke’s Synthesizer Evolution is an illustrated guide to decades of electronic instruments.
Covering everything from early analogue behemoths to modern digital powerhouses, it’s packed with facts, specs, and charming hand-drawn diagrams that serve as both a reference and a celebration of synth culture throughout the ages.
Find out more about Synthesizer Evolution by Oli Freke on Amazon here. 
Image: Press
Performing Electronic Music Live – Kirsten Hermes
Fancy the challenge of taking your productions from the studio to the stage? Kirsten Hermes’ detailed how-to manual, Performing Electronic Music Live, will set you up for success. From creating your live rig and designing custom hardware, to on-the-fly synthesis and sound manipulation, this book explores the nuts and bolts of building an engaging live show.
In addition, Hermes — who holds a PhD in sound perception — also explores other hurdles artists face within live music, whether that’s the complicated psychology of performance or the logistics of planning and promoting your own show.
Find out more about Performing Electronic Music Live by Kirsten Hermes on Amazon here. 
Live Audio: The Art of Mixing a Show – Dave Swallow
A hands-on guide to sound engineering, Live Audio walks readers through the process of mixing gigs from setup to execution. Throughout, Swallow breaks down everything from EQ and dynamics to venue acoustics and troubleshooting issues on the fly — everything you need to know about mixing music in often unpredictable environments.
Offering a mix of technical expertise and real-world examples, this book is a must-have for anyone working in live sound, be that at clubs, festivals, or on tour. It’s just as valuable a read for performers too, where understanding what goes on behind the scenes can boost your confidence before a crowd.
Find out more about Live Audio: The Art of Mixing a Show by Dave Swallow on Amazon here.
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Every guide on MusicTech is created by a producer, musician and tech enthusiast just like you. We understand what you’re looking for and we want to ensure you purchase genuinely useful products for your craft. So you can guarantee that every product MusicTech recommends to you is a product we’d be happy to have in our studios.
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Clive From Accounts: “Having lots of gear can be paralysing; being limited forces you to push those boundaries”Clive From Accounts AKA Richard Day is not a producer to put in a box. He prides himself on being able to tap into myriad genres and styles from around the world, while still honing in on his love of 90s hip hop and house, something that is evident through his new record, The Very Best of Clive From Accounts.

READ MORE: DESTIINO: “I think it’s outdated now to mix on a desk; DAWs work well if you know how to use them”

Born in London, the self-described “stationary cupboard loiterer” offers synth-heavy releases which are famously meticulous yet detailed, offering very precise music-making that he’s previously admitted can drive him slightly insane. The new album follows the ‘Alan EP’, a record composed almost entirely from Alan Partridge samples. If that doesn’t demonstrate someone’s ability to make something out of nothing, it’s hard to know what will.
He talks to MusicTech about some of the gear that shaped this latest release, where he sources his samples, as well as whether it’s really possible to recreate the sound of records from the 70s.

Congrats on the release of your new album The Very Best of Clive from Accounts! Two of your new singles incorporate music from around the world, with Konsumu Suru which is inspired by Japanese music and culture and Heavier bringing in Afro Beats. How do you approach making new and diverse styles?
The whole album is quite varied in style really, but it wasn’t a conscious thing, as I’m just used to listening to a lot of different genres so that’s what tends to interest and excite me. I don’t come from a strictly house background, but much more from 90s drum n bass and hip hop which then led me to deep dive into the older records they sampled. The love for house came later, so I approach making it in a slightly different way – basically not knowing what I’m doing!
In terms of producing I only have one rule which is never to start with a template or stick to a formula. That way the music can go anywhere and each track becomes its own little universe.
The flip side to working in this way is you’re going to make a lot more “mistakes” but that’s what getting better is all about. Throw yourself in the deep end and make as many mistakes as possible.

Your music offers a retro early 00s feel with your use of old synths and tape. Why is this sound so sought after in contemporary electronic music? How does it add to your music?
I’m mainly trying to sound like something from the 70’s meets the mid 90’s. That’s where my heart really lies. In those beautifully imperfect synth, tape, and gritty sampler textures.
Saturation gives lots of flavour but what I really like about analogue synths and tape, is that you could listen to a repeated note for ten minutes straight but all the micro-changes in pitch and timbre make it feel alive and compelling. You can get quite a few plugins that emulate these effects and I’m definitely not an analogue purist. Whatever gets you there. I used to use a Revox PR99 reel to reel but it broke down almost weekly and there’s only about three people left in the country that service them. Anything you can do to add movement and life to digital recordings is helpful.
Clive From Accounts’ studio. Image: Press
Tell us a bit about your studio.
I’ve been making music a while so I have gone through quite a few different setups. From sitting on my bedroom floor with a Boss SP303, to a studio in an old kitchen (the kitchio) with my Akai MPC 2000xl balancing over a sink, to a rented place in Tottenham that was basically a triangle shape – I don’t recommend that!
Right now I’m very lucky to have built a standalone studio in my garden in Finsbury Park, North London. We live in a two bedroom place, so when our baby came along we needed to rethink things. Building it from scratch meant I could properly think about acoustics from the ground up. The room dimensions plus the enormous DIY bass traps make it sound pretty balanced. I’ve used correction software in the past but here I’ve just tried to learn how the room sounds.
For monitoring I use PMC two 5s, plus the sub, a mono mixcube, Focal Clear headphones and I recently picked up a pair of Adam D3V which are actually really impressive for the price and a nice contrast to the others.
Image: Press
What’s your latest gear or plugin purchase?
I quite recently got my hands on a Dinsync RE-303. That thing is a beauty. I’ve built a 303 clone in the past but this is just next level. The main circuits are exactly the same, using vintage parts and it has that perfect rubbery squelch but with added midi. Pricey but definitely worth it.
The 303 lines on Save Me and Clive By Night are from that.
Dinsync RE-303. Image: Press
What’s the best free plugin you own?
I love Little AlterBoy by Soundtoys which was free back in the day. I use the formant shifting a lot, you can hear that on Riko Dan’s vocals in the breakdown section of my track Heavier.
If we’re counting Ableton stock plugins then Drift is a great little instrument – I used that for the mains chords in Konsumu Suru.
What’s been the biggest investment in your career/studio?
Other than the studio building costs, my Studer 169 desk is one of the biggest investments I’ve made over the years.
Combined with a patchbay I have it set up so all my synths and DIs are routed through but can easily be swapped out with channels from the DAW. My tech, Margo, made an individual balanced outs box so I can record each channel directly back into the computer if needed. That means I can do a mini analogue mix using the nice EQs and subtle transformer saturation but still have everything separated in Ableton. I tend to use the main outputs for tracking though as they have extra character and the rest of my chain (Silver Bullet mk2, Pultecs, WesAudio Dione & Rhea) follows from there. I like to colour things as much as possible going in.
Not just great for tone it’s brilliant for routing. I have a Tascam cassette Porta Two and Nagra IV reel to reel ready to be fed from the inserts. My Space Echo and Memory Man are on the sends and then the pre-fader listening headphone-out drives stereo spring reverb tanks which are recorded through DIs on my Prism Titan interface. That’s a good tip actually as most headphone amps & DIs will do it – cheap, instant spring heaven.
Studer 169. Image: Press
Samples feature heavily in your music, such as in the track Save Me. Where do you source your samples from? Is it all about digging through records, or are libraries like Splice and Landr more acceptable now?
I used to dig for weird records all the time in record and charity shops but nowadays I’m more trawling the internet for obscure stuff.
For the track Save Me I actually used Tracklib for the first time. After some painful experiences trying to clear things in the past it’s a relief to know the tracks are ready to use. The vocals are from Mississippi gospel/soul band, Staples Jr Singers. The only worry is someone’s used it before but that’s always true of sampling.
I don’t look down on Splice, it can be useful especially as they get in more diverse sounds but I don’t really use it for Clive.

What do samples bring to your sound that you can’t otherwise capture?
There’s a beauty to so many of those old 70s records that for whatever reason is very difficult to replicate now. The character of the old mics, tape and instruments but also the soul and performances.
I try to treat sampling like I’m making a collage and all those beautiful old textures from all those different moments in time add a richness and depth that’s hard to recreate.
How do you see your sound and studio evolving in the next two years?
I’ll definitely still be in this studio but maybe with less gear who knows. Sometimes having lots of gear can be daunting and a bit paralysing. Being limited forces you to push those boundaries and find creative workarounds. Having said that, I’ve sold a ton of synths in my time and I still miss every single one. I recently sold my Jupiter 6 and Pulsar-23 which were used quite a bit on the album and I think about them daily!
Soundtoys’ Little AlterBoy. Image: Press
Do you have a dream piece of gear?
There are so many synths I lust over but the ultimate would have to be the Oberheim Four (or eight!) Voice. It’s four SEMs (two oscillator, multimode filter mono synths) sandwiched together for polyphonic or monstrous unison patches.
One just sold for £20,000 so it’s never going to happen but you can dream! I tried to make a copy once using 4 x Roland se-02s. It worked but was a bit of a faff with the tiny knobs. I used that for the bassline on my track Pearls.
I love everything Tom Oberheim has created, and one of my favourite synths I own is the Oberheim Xpander. It’s such a unique beast, super ambitious for 1984 – it’s like having a fully digitally controllable, modular analogue synth but polyphonic and dripping in vintage character. You can hear it all over my album, particularly the track Spectrum.
A rack in Clive From Accounts’ studio. Image: Press
What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
That you need fancy equipment or studios to make good music. Not in the slightest. That might sound silly after all the answers above but it’s true. Give me a phone and I’ll happily make you tunes all day. Ideas and passion are by the far the most important things. Just get stuck in and find a way to make it work.
Who gave you the biggest lesson in your career? Can you tell us about how it impacted you?
This isn’t a lesson learnt directly but from studying Matthew Herbert and all the music concrete and electro-acoustic pioneers that came before him I learnt that you can pretty much make anything with anything. There’s a video of him as Wishmountain at the big chill in 1996 and he’s making amazing stuff using just guitar looper pedals and toasters and packets of crisps etc. He massively inspired me to make my Alan EP which is made from only sampling episodes of I’m Alan Partridge. He inspires me in everything I do.
The post Clive From Accounts: “Having lots of gear can be paralysing; being limited forces you to push those boundaries” appeared first on MusicTech.

Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) Synchron Special WoodwindsMeticulously sampled in the pristine ambience of Stage A of Vienna Synchron Stage, they all feature Vienna's new Flow View for an intuitive and effortless playing experience. All included instruments... Read More

NASA astronauts return from long Space Station stay prompted by Boeing problemsSunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore have returned to Earth after a nine-month stay on the International Space Station — a trip that lasted far longer than originally planned thanks to leaks and thruster problems on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they used to get there. Williams and Wilmore splashed down in the Gulf of […]
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ETH price prospects dim as Ethereum DEX volumes drop 34% in a weekEther (ETH) price fell below $2,200 on March 9 and has struggled to recover since. The altcoin is down 14% in March and the decline has hurt investor sentiment, especially as the broader crypto market only dropped 4% in the same period. Adding to the bearish sentiment, traders are also worried about further ETH price corrections after a 34% weekly drop in decentralized exchange (DEX) activity on the Ethereum network.Blockchains ranked by 7-day DEX volumes, USD. Source: DefiLlamaDEX volumes on Ethereum dropped 34% in the last seven days, a trend that also affected its layer-2 solutions like Base, Arbitrum, and Polygon. The market slump hit some Ethereum competitors, too, with Solana’s DEX activity down 29% and SUI’s down 17%. On the other hand, BNB Chain saw a 27% weekly volume increase, while Canto surged an impressive 445%.Ethereum's negative volume trends include an 85% drop for Maverick Protocol and a 46% decline for DODO compared to the previous week. More notably, fees on PancakeSwap—the top DEX on BNB Chain—surpassed those on Uniswap. While Ethereum remains the leader in DEX volumes, falling fees are reducing demand for ETH.Top protocols ranked by 7-day fees, USD. Source: DefiLlamaPancakeSwap, which operates exclusively on BNB Chain, generated $22.3 million in fees over seven days, surpassing Uniswap, which runs on Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Optimism. Other signs of Ethereum’s fee weakness include Lido trailing Solana’s Jupiter and AAVE, the leading Ethereum-based lending protocol, generating less in fees than Meteora, a Solana-based automated market maker and liquidity provider. Ethereum leads in total value locked, but the gap is narrowingOn the positive side, Ethereum remains the dominant leader in total value locked (TVL) at $47.2 billion, but a 9% weekly decline has significantly narrowed the gap with competitors. Furthermore, its layer-2 ecosystem showed increasing signs of weakness over the seven days leading up to March 18.Top blockchains ranked by total value locked, USD. Source: DefiLlamaSolana’s TVL dropped 3%, while BNB Chain saw a 6% increase in deposits compared to the prior week. Negative highlights for Ethereum’s TVL include an 11% decline in Stargate Finance over seven days, a 9% drop in deposits on Maker, and a 6% decline on Spark.Ethereum’s weakening onchain metrics aligned with reduced demand for leveraged longs in ETH futures, as their premium over spot markets fell below the 5% neutral threshold, signaling weaker confidence from traders.Ether 2-month futures annualized premium. Source: laevitas.chThe current 3% annualized ETH futures premium is the lowest in over a year, highlighting weak demand from bullish traders. Meanwhile, spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have recorded $293 million in net outflows since March 5, signaling waning institutional interest.After Pectra upgrade, ETH needs a competitive edge and sustainable adoption' Ethereum is also facing growing competition from Solana in the memecoin sector, particularly after the launch of the Official Trump (TRUMP) token. Simultaneously, Tron and Solana have captured a combined $75 billion in stablecoins by leveraging lower transaction fees. Adding to the pressure, Hyperliquid perpetual futures introduced its own blockchain, further challenging Ethereum’s market position.Related: Hyperliquid opened doors to ‘democratized’ crypto whale hunting: AnalystAll of this unfolded amid heated debates among investors and developers over whether Ethereum layer-2 solutions are disproportionately benefiting from extremely low rollup fees. Essentially, the decline in the DEX market share reflects waning institutional interest, particularly as Ethereum’s native staking yield sits at just 2.3% when adjusted for inflation-driven supply growth.For Ether to regain momentum, it must demonstrate a clear competitive edge. The upcoming ‘Pectra’ upgrade needs to provide a viable path for sustainable user adoption; otherwise, the odds remain stacked against ETH outperforming its rivals.This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.