A Puzzle for the Visually Impaired, or BlindfoldedThere’s no reason why a visually impaired person can’t enjoy putting together a jigsaw puzzle. It just needs to look a little different. Or, in this case, feel different.
16-year-old [feazellecw] has come up with just the solution — a puzzle with pieces that have both a defining texture and a slant in the z-height to them. While there is no picture on the puzzle face to speak of, instead there is a satisfying end result. You could change it up and add a relief image if you wanted, as long as you still observed the diagonal lines, the z-slant, and the little hole in the bottom that helps differentiate it from the top.
As [feazellecw] says, it’s important to find a box to help keep the pieces together during assembly; a 3D-printed box would be a nice touch. Files for this 15-piece puzzle are available if you’d like to make one for yourself or someone else, but just the idea might inspire you to make your own variant.
Don’t like putting puzzles together? Build a robot to do it for you.

Nexadyne 8/C and 8/S Now Shipping with Shure WirelessAfter a highly successful Nexadyne Dynamic Vocal Microphone launch this spring, Shure is happy to announce that the Nexadyne 8/C and 8/S are now shipping with Axient Digital, ULX-D, QLX-D, and SLX-D handheld transmitters. Additionally, both Nexadyne 8 polar patterns are available as options for SLX-D wireless system configurations.

This product line is made possible by the development of the patented RevonicDual Engine Transducer Technology. This technology uses two precisely paired dynamic transducers to enable exceptional clarity and unwanted noise reduction — more of what you want, less of what you don't.

Please visit Shure.com for details about the wide assortment of Nexadyne Vocal Microphones with Shure Wireless Systems.The post Nexadyne 8/C and 8/S Now Shipping with Shure Wireless first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

United Plugins & FireSonic release FireSpacer The latest FireSonics plug-in aims to solve the problem of frequency masking in busy mixes, helping to ensure that each element sits nicely in its own space.

FLOSS Weekly Episode 793: Keeping an Eye on Things with Hilight.ioThis week Jonathan Bennett and Aaron Newcomb chat with Jay Khatri, the co-founder of Highlight.io. That’s a web application monitoring tool that can help you troubleshoot performance problems, find bugs, and improve experiences for anything that runs in a browser or browser-like environment. Why did they opt to make this tool Open Source? What’s the funding model? And what’s the surprising challenge we tried to help Jay solve, live on the show? Listen to find out!

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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How Zaytoven turns melodies into beats in minutes
Zaytoven (Gucci Mane, Usher) sat down with us to showcase how he makes beats using Create as a source for inspiration.

Universal Music generated $3.15bn in Q2 – driven by top sellers Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, SEVENTEEN and moreUniversal Music Group has published its financial results for the three months to the end of June
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How Eminem used AI to recreate Slim Shady voice on new album, The Death of Slim ShadyEminem used AI to recreate the voice and image of Slim Shady for his latest album The Death of Slim Shady (Coupe de Grâce), which came out earlier this month.
It’s been 25 years since we were first introduced to the rapper’s alter ego in Em’s 1999 song My Name Is, from his major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP. And in the video of his new single Houdini, Slim – who’s getting killed off – comes back. He travels forward in time to today, as he and Eminem go back-to-back with lyrics from the 2002 song Without Me, quoting “Shady’s back/Tell a friend.”

READ MORE: YouTube’s revamped eraser tool uses AI to remove copyrighted music without impacting other audio

According to Billboard’s Damien Scott, Eminem used the AI company Metaphysic to bring Slim Shady back in both voice and image. He explains that the company, founded in 2021, offers tools that allow artists to “create and manage digital versions of themselves that they can then manipulate and use for their own projects or license out to third parties for movies, TV shows, or other commercial projects”.
Artists can protect their image and likeness at a time when AI is exploding, and registering with Metaphysic gives them the opportunity to build a database of their face, voice, and videos from any point in their career.
There isn’t a lot to stop companies and other bodies from exploiting the image and likeness of a musician or artist, but if you’re registered with Metaphysic, the company will notify you when they find any instances online, providing some semblance of protection in an area where it’s lacking.
Ed Ulbrich, chief content officer and EVP of production at Metaphysic, says: “We’re here to help people protect themselves and at least understand what’s going on. It is not unreasonable to believe that people should own their own likeness. They should own their own biometric data. They should have access to their AI self. They should be able to control it.
“And if you are an individual that is in command, we don’t own that. We maintain it for them, but it’s up to them if they want to license it to someone.”
The post How Eminem used AI to recreate Slim Shady voice on new album, The Death of Slim Shady appeared first on MusicTech.

YouTube ad revenues jump 13% to $8.7B in Q2, but fall short of analysts’ expectationsThe video streamer's advertising earnings miss sent Alphabet shares down on Wednesday
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Splice launches $1,000 competition with chance to work with producer OliverRoyalty-free sample library Splice is offering users $1,000 and a chance to collaborate with producer Oliver in a new competition.
To enter, you need to create a sample pack of your own original sounds and loops, and upload them to a file hosting service like Dropbox or Google Drive. There aren’t any restrictions on the number of samples in your pack, and you’ll be judged on quality over quantity.

READ MORE: Stuck in a loop? Splice’s Create will now match compatible samples to musical ideas you’ve created

Make a demo track using your sounds as well as five samples from Oliver’s Collection, which can be found on the Splice Discord – keep it to under a minute in length. Finally, submit the track and pack via the link found in the same Discord channel.
If you’re interested, you’ll have until 11:59pm EST on 2 August to submit your track and pack. Once the submission period has ended, voting will open. You need to vote for three other submissions between 12:00am on 3 August and 6:00pm on 5 August. Only participants can vote, and you’ll be disqualified automatically if you don’t vote for three other submissions.
Oliver will be choosing three winners via livestream from the top ten tracks once voting is complete. The winner will get $1,000 USD and be considered to contribute to the next Oliver pack or work with Oliver on a session. The runner-up will get $500, while the third-place winner will get $250.
Producer, DJ, sound designer and mix engineer Oliver has worked with the likes of Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, Khalid and Latto in recent years, and received a Grammy nominee in 2018 for his work on Chromeo’s album Head Over Heels. His Power Tools sample pack has also most notably been used in the “song of the summer,” Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter, says Splice.

He has created four Splice Sounds sample packs in his Power Tools series, and all of them have topped the Splice charts.
You can find out more about the competition on Splice’s blog.
The post Splice launches $1,000 competition with chance to work with producer Oliver appeared first on MusicTech.

Audialab releases Deep Sampler 2, a FREE AI-powered music production tool
Developer Audialab has released Deep Sampler 2, a free AI-powered music production tool. Audialab is passionate about the future of AI in music production and is on a mission to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and aspiring artists. The driving force behind the developer’s charge to bring AI technology to the masses is the [...]
View post: Audialab releases Deep Sampler 2, a FREE AI-powered music production tool

How to Promote Music Beyond Social MediaLearn how to improve your current strategies to promote music beyond social media and constant content creation. With these tested tips, musicians can 'passively promote' their music while saving time, money, and effort...
The post How to Promote Music Beyond Social Media appeared first on Hypebot.

Apogee Trade-in Offer Apogee and Sound Technology Ltd have announced a limited offer that allows owners to trade in selected legacy products and receive a discount on a new Symphony MkII system.

Daniel Ek confirms “deluxe version” of Spotify is coming soon with high-resolution audioSpotify CEO Daniel Ek has confirmed that a ‘deluxe’ version of the music streaming platform with high-resolution audio will be coming soon.
Ek, who co-founded Spotify in 2006, declared during Spotify’s earnings call yesterday (23 July) that the new version is on its way, though didn’t give an exact time frame. He said, “The plan here is to offer a much better version of Spotify. Think something like $5 above the current premium tier.

READ MORE: “Enough’s enough”: deadmau5 threatens to pull music from Spotify following Daniel Ek “cost of creating content” comments

“So it’s probably around a $17 or $18 price point, but sort of a deluxe version of Spotify that has all of the benefits that the normal Spotify version has, but a lot more control, a lot higher quality across the board, and some other things that I’m not ready to talk about just yet.”
Spotify first announced its HiFi lossless streaming feature in 2021, and three years later it has yet to appear. It’s been suggested recently that it could come with perks like AI-powered playlists, headphone sound quality optimisation, and advanced library management as an add-on to the platform’s pre-existing premium subscription, but they could all form part of a deluxe version instead.
It’s been thought that Spotify was taken by surprise when rivals Apple and Amazon started to include higher-resolution audio in their standard subscription plans, so it’s taken some time for them to come up with a deluxe plan that they think customers will find worth paying for.
Ek said, “There’s a good subset of that group of 246 million subscribers that want a much better version of Spotify. Those are huge music lovers who are primarily looking for even more flexibility in how they use Spotify and the music capabilities that exist on Spotify.”
According to Bloomberg, Spotify hopes to release the deluxe version later this year, so we might learn a lot more about it in the coming months.
The post Daniel Ek confirms “deluxe version” of Spotify is coming soon with high-resolution audio appeared first on MusicTech.

What Are Neighboring Rights? A guide to foreign music royaltiesWhat Are Neighboring Rights? Navigating the royalties you are owed as an independent artist and songwriter can be confusing.
The post What Are Neighboring Rights? A guide to foreign music royalties appeared first on Hypebot.

KiT Access Advantage Plan for Album Releases: Bringing Physical & Digital TogetherUnlock the power of physical media in the digital world with the KiT Access Advantage Plan for new KiTalbum releases.
The post KiT Access Advantage Plan for Album Releases: Bringing Physical & Digital Together appeared first on Hypebot.