From the Philippines to TikTok: The Rise of Budots and Dr. BeatBudots, a Filipino dance and music genre, has gone viral globally on TikTok. However, this may not be a ticket to longevity, as evidenced by other microgenres that have garnered attention on the app.
The post From the Philippines to TikTok: The Rise of Budots and Dr. Beat appeared first on Hypebot.

MICRORACK launch portable synth Kickstarter MICRORACK's new modular platform will feature a collection of compact, affordable preassembled modules that can be arranged on a breadboard.

Universal Music Group and Meta to tackle unauthorised AI-generated content and more in new “expanded global agreement”Universal Music Group (UMG) and Meta have announced an “expanded global, multi-year agreement that will further evolve the creative and commercial opportunities” for UMG artists and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) songwriters across Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Horizon, Threads and WhatsApp.

READ MORE: Take a trip down memory lane with Phoenix, Air, Kavinsky and more at the Olympics closing ceremony

While the specific terms of the deal were not disclosed, both companies have emphasised their “shared commitment to protecting human creators and artistry, including ensuring that artists and songwriters are compensated fairly.”
A key focus of the new agreement is on tackling “unauthorised AI-generated content that could affect artists and songwriters.” AI laws governing intellectual property have long struggled to keep up with the technology’s development, with creators becoming increasingly concerned about their work being used by AI companies to train models without proper compensation.
According to officials, the partnership also “expands monetization opportunities” for UMG and its artists and songwriters, including short form video.
Michael Nash, Chief Digital Officer & EVP of UMG said, “We are delighted that Meta shares our artist-centric vision for respecting human creativity and compensating artists and songwriters fairly. We look forward to continuing to work together to address unauthorised AI-generated content that could affect artists and songwriters, so that UMG can continue to protect their rights both now and in the future.”
The move also follows UMG’s recent feud with TikTok, which saw the music giant pull its entire song catalogue from the short-form video app.
In a fiery open letter penned by UMG back in January titled ‘Why we must call time out on TikTok’, the firm accused TikTok of trying to “bully” it into “accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of [its] exponential growth”.
Both sides eventually reached a settlement in May, putting an end to the months-long dispute with music from artists like Taylor Swift returning to TikTok’s libraries.
The post Universal Music Group and Meta to tackle unauthorised AI-generated content and more in new “expanded global agreement” appeared first on MusicTech.

How to make a Y2K video game house beat in 10 minutes with free pluginsIn this tutorial, you’ll learn how to bring a late 90s or Y2K sound to your house tracks using the free Meat Beats Orbhits instrument, a sampled version of the popular E-Mu Orbit 9090 sound module from 1996. This synth has been used in classic DnB tracks by Blame and Peshay, and is the precursor to the E-Mu Orbit-3 which was used heavily in the soundtrack to Metroid Prime.

READ MORE: How to make an atmospheric DnB beat in 10 minutes with free plugins

For more context on what a “video game sound” actually is, you can head to the final section of this article, but if you’re itching to get started, let’s show you what’s in store.
Here’s what you’ll be making:

We’re going to use Ableton Live for this guide, but you can follow along with any DAW. You can also use any software or hardware you like in place of Orbhits and Ableton’s stock effects — the principles of the arrangement and sound are what matters, not your gear.
Step 1: Sourcing a house beat
Load up your DAW and set the project tempo to a peppy 132 BPM. We’re going to use a breakbeat sample from BandLab Sounds as the basis of our track, specifically Chupy_126_FullDrum_4bars.
This beat is at 126 BPM, so we’ll warp it to speed it up to the project tempo of 132 BPM. This loop sounds ideal and provides the perfect foundation to our beat. All we need to do before moving on is turn its track down to -3dB to give us more headroom to add further elements to the mix.

Step 2: Creating a chord riff
Our track is going to be based around a chord patch from Orbhits, PAD-RevealMe. We’ll play this on A2, G3, C3 and G2 using a velocity value of 100, which we’ll use for all MIDI notes in this walkthrough.
Add a ping-pong delay synced to two 16th notes with a Dry/Wet level of 30%, and a reverb with a Dry/Wet level of 20%.
Set this track to -7.5dB to balance it with the beat.

Step 3: Adding a bass line
Now our beat has a basic musical idea, let’s flesh it out with a bass line. We’ll use the BAS-AnyWorld preset for this, playing on A1, F2 and G1. Set this track to -3dB.

Let’s enhance the bass line with another layered bass tone. This time, try BAS-BuzzBass.
Duplicate the MIDI over from the first bass line, and pitch it up an octave so that it complements the existing bass sound. Set this track to -8dB.

Step 4: Sequencing a lead
Our lead part for this track is going to be very simple because the chord riff is already providing the track’s melodic movement. What’s more, Orbhits doesn’t actually feature any dedicated lead synth patches! No matter, we’ll use a bass preset pitched up to provide our lead. Select BAS-SquareUp and sequence a part that plays A4 and G4.
Duplicate the delay and reverb effects over from the chord track to prevent this part from sounding too dry. Set this track to -7.5dB.

Step 5: Adding a vocal sample
Orbhits includes some retro-flavoured vocal samples, so let’s add one to our beat for some character. Load up the VOX-ComeOnYo preset, and sequence it to play on A2 just before the third beat, and on the twelfth 16th note. Loop this out to play for the whole four-bar sequence.
Duplicate the delay over from the previous track, and set this track to -6.5dB.

Step 6: Applying sidechain compression
Let’s give our beat a loud, pumping sound by grouping all the instrument tracks together, and adding a compressor effect. Set the sidechain input of the compressor to the drum loop track, with a threshold of -28dB and a Release time of 28ms.

Now you’ve got your beat, start adding and arranging elements to transform this into a fully-fledged original track.
What is “Y2k video game” music?
Early video games were typically released on floppy disks or cartridges, which didn’t allow for large amounts of data storage. This meant that games were unable to compete sonically with the popular music of the time, but you can be hear the resulting styles in games such as Streets of Rage 2 and Xenon 2: Megablast.
With the advent of Sony’s first PlayStation and Microsoft’s Windows 95 in the mid-90s, CD-ROM became the most common format for video games distribution, and developers could suddenly include high-quality soundtracks in their games. Video games began to include licensed and bespoke CD-quality music, with Psygnosis’ Wipeout games being the pre-eminent example of this trend.
The Wipeout series featured music from established artists such as Photek, The Future Sound of London and Orbital, bringing dance music culture and video games together closer than ever. With the increasing availability of sample CDs, the influence of dance music began to be heard often in late-90s video game soundtracks, and familiar samples can be heard in the soundtracks to games such as Shock Troopers, Rage Racer and Grand Theft Auto.
Now the sounds of the fifth and sixth generation video games consoles have become influential in their own right with collections such as the Low Poly Breaks series becoming popular on YouTube.
Want more tutorials right in your inbox? Sign up to MusicTech’s newsletter.
The post How to make a Y2K video game house beat in 10 minutes with free plugins appeared first on MusicTech.

Nearly Nilsson - Songs in the Key of HarryNoting the 50th anniversary of the album Pussy Cats, the legacy Harry Nilsson left behind is immeasurable. Generations of soft-hearted and romantic dreamers followed the trail he paved, and herein lies a list of songs that tread in Nilsson's footsteps, celebrating reverb-laden vocals, lost loves, childlike wonder, and a winking sense of mischievousness.

TechCrunch Space: It’s a bird, it’s a plane — it’s a rocket-powered aircraft!Dawn Aerospace Mk-II is essentially "an aircraft with the performance of a rocket, not a rocket with wings."
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Crypto ETFs will expand to new asset types, indexes — Grayscale executiveThe pace of adoption of crypto exchange-traded funds in the United States has been surprising even to Grayscale.

OBLIQUE III: Dark Violin Explorations from The Very Loud Indeed Co. The long-awaited third addition to the OBLIQUE series contains a selection of solo violin sounds aimed at thriller, dark drama and horror scores.

Can You Hack The RP2350? There’s $10,000 On The LineThe Raspberry Pi Foundation had their new RP2350 chip audited by Hextree.io, and now, both companies want to see if you can hack it. Just to prove that they’re serious, they’re putting out a $10,000 bounty. Can you get inside?
The challenge to hack the chip is simple enough. You need to dump a secret that is hidden at OTP ROW 0xc08. It’s 128 bits long, and it’s protected in two ways—by the RP2350’s secure boot and by OTP_DATA_PAGE48_LOCK1. Basically, the chip security features have been activated, and you need to get around them to score the prize.
The gauntlet was thrown down ahead of DEF CON, where the new chip was used in the event badges. Raspberry Pi and Hextree.io invited anyone finding a break to visit their booth in the Embedded Systems Village. It’s unclear at this stage if anyone claimed the bounty, so we can only assume the hunt remains open. It’s been stated that the challenge will run until 4 PM UK time on September 7th, 2024.
Hacking microcontrollers is a tough and exacting art. The GitHub repo provides full details on what you need to do, with the precise rules, terms, and conditions linked at the bottom. You can also watch the challenge video on Hextree.io.

Free 3-Day “Mix-Off” Virtual Event: Old School SSL VS. New School SSL Plug-insIntroducing the ‘Mix-off’ virtual event, brought to you by Solid State Logic and Mastering.com.

Watch as two mixers go head to head — one using “old school” SSL plug-ins inspired by consoles and processors from the ‘70s and ‘80s - think early 4000B and E consoles, valve compressors, and other ‘vintage’ style processors. The other mix engineer using “new school” SSL plug-ins with modern features; Channels strip’s based on the 9000 series console, tools with multi-band and side-chain processing, and other plug-ins associated with contemporary production techniques.

You’ll watch the entire process, picking up tips and tricks along the way that you can apply to your own music.

Anyone who attends the ‘Mix-off’ virtual event will receive a software discount voucher the SSL plug-ins used by both engineers at this event, and also be able to download the stems used to create both mixes and apply the techniques used to their productions.

Which will win? Old school or new? Join us live to find out.

Sign up hereThe post Free 3-Day “Mix-Off” Virtual Event: Old School SSL VS. New School SSL Plug-ins first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Prusa Picks Up the Pace with New MK4S PrinterOne of the things you’re paying for when you buy a 3D printer from Prusa Research is, essentially, your next 3D printer. That’s because Prusa’s machines are designed to be upgraded and modified as time goes on. An upgrade kit is always released to allow each older printer to be converted into its successor, and while there’s occasionally been some debate about whether or not it’s the most cost-effective choice, at least it is a choice you have as an owner.
If you’ve got a Prusa MK4, you’ll soon get to make that decision for yourself. Announced earlier today, the new MK4S brings some notable changes to last year’s printer. The $99 upgrade is scheduled to be available by the end of the month for existing owners, but if you’ve been on the fence about joining Team Orange and Black, you can purchase the MK4S right now in both kit and assembled forms for the same price ($799 and $1,099 respectively) as the previous MK4.

The front panel of the MK4S is now injection molded.
So, what’s new with the MK4S? With speed an increasingly hot topic in the 3D printing community, it should come as little surprise to find this new machine is even faster than its predecessor. A reworked cooling system and new high-flow nozzle mean Prusa’s latest can spit out everyone’s favorite little boat in 14 minutes—or as little as 8 minutes if you don’t mind a slight drop in print quality.
The announcement post also cites improvements to the machine’s printed structural components. Parts that were previously made in PETG are now being printed in carbon fiber-infused polycarbonate. Some parts, such as the front panel, have even been switched over to injection molding.
While describing the changes made with the MK4s, the blog post also clarified Prusa’s position regarding open sourcing of their printers. There was considerable concern back in March of 2023 when the company announced it was reconsidering its traditional dedication to making its hardware and software as open — as much as possible — in light of increased commercial competition. But now the company has posted a chart on their site that explains not only what’s being shared for each of their printers, but a timeline as to when we can expect it.
The GPIO hackerboard
While it hasn’t been updated for the 4S yet, the overview shows that the company plans on holding onto the design files for the MK4 PCBs until the end of the product’s life. Otherwise, it seems their current flagship printer is equally as open as the MK3 that came before it. While a time-limited source release will likely rub some in the wrong way, the reality is that it’s more than you’d get with pretty much any other 3D printer manufacturer out there.
The announcement also talks briefly about the new GPIO “Hackerboard” that the company will start shipping in September. The $15 board plugs into an expansion connector on the PCB of the MK4 or MK4S, and provides eight pins that can be toggled via G-Code sent to the printer. These could be used for all sorts of automation tasks, such as turning on the lights and fans inside of an enclosure or triggering the shutter on a camera. There’s not much detail about this particular add-on yet, but it’s certainly something we’ll be keeping a close eye on.

IK Multimedia launch Hyde Street Amp Locker IK Multimedia have released a TONEX add-on that introduces Tone Models of 14 new rare and sought-after amplifiers.

Amra’s Tomas Ericsson on the future for PROs, songwriter royalties – and an industry crying out for transparencyThe CEO of Amra explains how his company is shaking up the world of global digital royalty collections for songwriters and publishers
Source

SXSW 2025 panels worth voting for from Bandsintown, Rock Paper Scissors, The Orchard & more SXSW PanelPicker voting ends this Sunday, August 18. We’ve put together an extensive list of SXSW 2025 panels worth voting for. Anyone can register for a free SXSW account to vote, helping ensure the best panels are chosen.
The post SXSW 2025 panels worth voting for from Bandsintown, Rock Paper Scissors, The Orchard & more appeared first on Hypebot.

Turn Followers into Loyal Supporters: Lasting Fan EngagementTransform your fanbase from casual followers to loyal supporters with strategic nurturing techniques. Discover key methods to building lasting fan engagement. Turn Followers into Loyal Supporters: Lasting Fan Engagement by. Continue reading
The post Turn Followers into Loyal Supporters: Lasting Fan Engagement appeared first on Hypebot.