How to find samples for your music
We explore some resources and strategies that can help you discover and create unique samples for your next project.

Bill Ackman massively scales back expectations for the IPO of his Pershing Square USA, from $25bn to $2bnAckman confirms that IPO will be priced at less than a tenth of original $25 billion target
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The Last Instrument to get Auto-TunedVarious decades have their musical signature, like the excessive use of synthesizers and hairspray in the 1980s pop music scene. Likewise, the early 2010s was marked by a fairly extreme use of autotune, a technology that allows sounds, especially vocals, to be shifted to precise pitches regardless of the pitch of the original source. In this dark era, a wide swath of instruments and voices on the charts were auto-tuned at some point, although we don’t remember this iconic instrument ever being featured among the annals of pitch-shifted pop music.
The auto-tuned kazoo created by [Guy Dupont] does its pitch corrections on-the-fly thanks to a built-in ESP-32-S3 microcontroller which, through a microphone inside the kazoo, listens for note of the musician’s hum and corrects it to the closest correctly pitched note. Once it identifies the note it outputs a kazoo-like pitch-corrected note from a small speaker, also hidden inside the instrument. It does this fast enough for live performances using the YIN fundamental frequency estimation algorithm. Not only can the kazoo be played directly, but thanks to the implementation of MIDI it can be used to control other synthesizers or be played through other means as a stand-alone synthesizer.
Much like the 80s, where the use of synthesizers relaxed from excessive use on nearly every instrument on every track throughout the decade to a more restrained use as the decade faded, so has autotune been toned down in most music to be more subtly applied. But like our enjoyment of heavily synthesized tunes outside the 80s like those by Daft Punk or The Weeknd, we can also appreciate something heavily auto-tuned outside of the 2010s like a stylized kazoo or a T-Pain-style guitar effects pedal.

The SEC has charged an a16z and Sequoia-backed crypto startup founder with fraud The founder of once-hyped crypto startup BitClout is facing trouble. On Tuesday, the SEC charged him with fraud and other offenses.
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This Home Made Mac Has a Real CRTCathode-ray tube (CRT) televisions may no longer be in production, but its last bastion came in the form of extremely cheap little Chinese portable sets with a black-and-white tube. They’re now useless for broadcast TV, so can often be had for next-to-nothing. [Action Retro] has a video showing a Mac Classic clone using one, and with a built-in Raspberry Pi and a copy of RiscOS it almost makes a usable computer.
The video below the break is a little heavy on the 3D printer sponsor and the Mac case comes from a Thingiverse project, but it’s well executed and we’re grateful for being introduced to that original project. We’d have gone for a period-correct beige filament rather than the glow-in-the-dark green one used here.
We’re guessing that more than one reader will have a few of those TVs around the place, such is their ubiquity. Is it worth making this as a novelty item? It depends upon your viewpoint, but we can’t help liking the result even if perhaps it’s not for us. If RiscOS isn’t quite the thing,  there’s an option a little closer to the real thing.

As Spotify readies $18 per month ‘deluxe’ tier, do consumers care about high quality audio?Luminate study sheds light on what consumers really want from streaming
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Vox Samples Drops FREE Drift Pitch Vibrato Effect Plugin
Vox Samples released the free Drift Pitch vibrato effect plugin for Mac and Windows.  Drift Pitch is a 64-bit exclusive release for VST3 on Windows or VST3 and AU for macOS.  Vox Samples describes the plugin as “easily customizable and super powerful,” stating that it can “add a vibrato effect to any sound without degrading [...]
View post: Vox Samples Drops FREE Drift Pitch Vibrato Effect Plugin

Music Votes: Major Industry Partners Join CoalitionMusic Votes, the groundbreaking coalition of music voting and activism nonprofits, has announced a wave of major industry partners ranging from ASM Global to Wasserman and Bandsintown to the National Independent Talent Organization (NITO) pledging to support its three steps to solve obstacles to voting: voter registration, ensuring the correct voter ID, and voter turnout.
The post Music Votes: Major Industry Partners Join Coalition appeared first on Hypebot.

Streaming Data for Musicians: Unlocking Success in the Digital AgeExplore the most important streaming data for musicians and what they need to understand for success in the digital age. This guide highlights key metrics and provides insights on leveraging. Continue reading
The post Streaming Data for Musicians: Unlocking Success in the Digital Age appeared first on Hypebot.

Excite Audio unveil Bloom Vocal Edit The latest addition to Excite Audio’s range promises to transform the way users incorporate vocals into their productions, and make quick work of crafting professional sounding chops.

Entries now open for first-of-its-kind AI songwriting competition, where one lucky winner performs with KaskadeSoundful and SoundCloud have partnered with Kaskade for a first-of-its-kind AI songwriting competition, which will see one winner get to perform alongside the esteemed DJ, and even release their own track via his label, Arkade.
Soundful is described as “the recognised leader in AI-powered, ethically-trained music generation”. The platform’s artificial intelligence-powered algorithms are human-trained and guided by music theory, not copywritten material.

READ MORE: deadmau5 and Kaskade on Kx5, the perils of signing for a major label and why we should “unleash the beast” of AI-written pop songs

Entries are open now, and hopeful participants can head to the Soundful website to create a track from Kaskade’s Collab style. Soundful Collabs capture an artists’ core musical aesthetic, or “Sonic DNA,” enabling users to create one-of-a-kind tracks that sound like their favourite artists. However, participants are encouraged to modify the track to reflect their own unique style.
All submissions must be made via SoundCloud by 12 August. The first-place winner will have their track completed and released by Kaskade as a featured artist, and perform live with him at one of his upcoming shows.
But that’s not all, as they will also receive a two-year Soundful Pro plan, one year of SoundCloud Next Pro, a $1,000 cash prize from Soundful, and even up to $1,000 towards travel expenses for the meet and greet.
And if you don’t quite make it to the winner’s spot, the closest runner up will also win a prize that isn’t too shabby – Second place gets you a one-year Soundful Pro plan, a release on Arkade, and a $500 cash prize.
In other SoundCloud news, the platform has newly entered a strategic partnership with Resident Advisor (RA) aimed at revolutionising how artists and fans connect both online and in person. The alliance seeks to improve the way users of both platforms discover and experience music and events.
To view the full submission guidelines and rules for the AI songwriting competition, head to SoundCloud.
The post Entries now open for first-of-its-kind AI songwriting competition, where one lucky winner performs with Kaskade appeared first on MusicTech.

Frequency Factor: Rethinking Your Engagement StrategyUnfortunately, even daily fan engagement might not be enough to connect with your audience effectively. Here's how to better understand how often to reach out to improve audience relationships.
The post Frequency Factor: Rethinking Your Engagement Strategy appeared first on Hypebot.

Serato launches DJ Pro and DJ Lite update with “significantly upgraded” suite of FXSerato has launched a brand new update – Serato DJ Pro 3.2.0 and Serato DJ Lite 3.2.0 – offering native Apple Silicon support and a plethora of new FX.
The update also provides DJs with expanded parameters, enhanced control and seamless integration, plus the new suite of custom-built FX, featuring Infinity Tone, Spiral Echo, Stretch, Vast Reverb, and Infinity Flanger.

READ MORE: AlphaTheta’s proposed acquisition of Serato blocked: “We disagree with and are disappointed by the ruling of the New Zealand Commerce Commission”

News of the update was first shared by Serato back in June, with the launch of a free public beta. Now the update is officially here, let’s recap on what it entails:

Full suite of new FX: These have been designed by Serato’s product and development teams.
Native Apple Silicon support: Enjoy seamless integration and optimised performance with native Apple Silicon support for Apple M1, M2 and M3 computers.
Create your own signature sound with Custom FX: For the first time in Serato DJ Pro, users can take full control over their FX with the ability to create, save, and manage an unlimited amount of their own presets, tailored exactly to their style (Suite / Expansion and existing FX licence owners only).
Channel FX: For controllers and mixers without built-in hardware FX, DJs can access new Channel FX that can be assigned to the filter knob. This is also available for usage with Serato Play.
Favorite FX Banks: You can now save up to four Favourite FX Banks, customised to your liking.
Easily navigate with an Enhanced Look and New View Modes: Experience a redesigned FX panel across new view modes, designed to enhance your control and flexibility.

The 3.2.0 update also revives the Roll Out – A long-time favourite effect from Scratch Live – now with an enhanced quality sound build and design. The Roll Out is available if you have Suite or the Expansions bundle.
Check out the videos below for more information:

Find out more over at Serato, or view its full list of FX.
The post Serato launches DJ Pro and DJ Lite update with “significantly upgraded” suite of FX appeared first on MusicTech.

Watch Fred again.. play several unreleased tracks during intimate London rooftop setFred again.. is one of the biggest electronic music stars in the world right now, and is easily able to sell out arenas in minutes when he announces shows. He even played his first-ever stadium concert at the LA Memorial Coliseum in June.
But the size of his audience appears to be of no concern to the Balham, London-born mega producer. Last month he surprised Glastonbury-goers with a surprise ambient set at the smaller Strummerville stage, and now, he’s soundtracked the evening drinks of a handful of revellers on a small rooftop in London.

READ MORE: Skrillex and Fred again’s huge surprise Civic Center rave looked insane – take a look the highlights here

And fortunately for you, Fred’s the entire nearly-two-hour performance to his YouTube channel so you can appreciate it in all its glory.
The set kicks off with Ten (ft. Jozzy), before jumping into the likes of Cautious (Tuesday Idea), an edit of Libianca’s afrobeats megahit People, and then into adore u (with Obongjayar), before playing a host of unidentified fresh IDs.
One of them he revealed was a track named Glow, which was created with Duskus, Skrillex and Four Tet.

“Some of the songs on this are on the record that I’ve just finished/am finishing,” Fred reveals in the video’s description.
He goes on: “In the last couple years I’ve had less and less time to spend with my absolute main people, and I’ve also been making a new record. So I wanted to get all these people together and have an evening in London and play them some of the tunes and just have a nice time really.”
Learn more about Fred again.. via his official website.
The post Watch Fred again.. play several unreleased tracks during intimate London rooftop set appeared first on MusicTech.

Real-time voice morphing with Dreamtonics Vocoflex Dreamtonics have announced the release of a new AI-powered plug-in that’s capable of transforming the sound of a vocalist in real time.