Novation release Play for Launchkey MK4 Designed to pair up exclusively with their Launchkey MK4 MIDI controller keyboard, Novation’s latest software release captures the sound of an array of well-known synthesizers.

Live Review of Colin Blunstone and RooneyMajestic Theater Detroit, MI

Contact: fiona@thebloomeffect.com 

Web: colinblunstone.net; rooneymusic.com 

Players: Colin Blunstone, vocals; Robert Schwartzman, vocals, guitar; Sean Sobash, bass; Brad Goodall, keyboards, vocals

It was a multi-generational meeting of the minds where members of alternative power pop band Rooney joined forces with one of their prime musical heroes and inspirations, Colin Blunstone of The Zombies. Actually this was not the first time for the pairing as Rooney has toured with Blunstone and his legendary British counterparts in years past. 

But this particular show had unique relevance for it was part of a select U.S. cities tour promoting Rooney front man Schwartzman’s new documentary on The Zombies called Hung Up on a Dream. The evening was a complete entertainment experience where the audience was treated to a screening of the 90-minute film, followed by a live semi-acoustic performance and a Q&A segment afterwards, with documentary director Schwartzman, Blunstone and Music Connection contributor and moderator Gary Graff.

Following the film screening, the members of Rooney jumped on the somewhat barren stage and warmed up the crowd, with a few of their radio-ready hits of the last decade or so. Sans drums, they burst out emphatically with their rapturous song “If It Were Up To Me.” Schwartzman commanded the stage from the outset, with strong lead pipes and a taut heavy pop feel. The wall of harmonies was textbook and clear as Sobash’s driving bass locked in seamlessly with the overall enveloping mix. In the vein of classic ‘60s/’70s stylists like Badfinger, Nilsson, Big Star and the like, descending chord sequences blended with joyous harmonies that led into one of their biggest singles “When Did Your Heart Go Missing?” Schwartzman was like a man possessed, darting back and forth, singing the hook with laser focus as Goodall matched the lead vocal melodies note for note on the keys. 

When Blunstone entered the fray it was an almost surreal moment. The crowd rose to their feet and stayed there from the incessant refrain of “Tell Her No,” onward. “She’s Not There” retained that cool jazzy cadence as Goodall covered original keyboardist Rod Argent’s parts perfectly. And that’s no mean feat, indeed! Rooney and Blunstone also played deep cuts like the baroque-inspired “This Will Be Our Year,” an early solo single for The Zombies’ front man, “Caroline Goodbye” and the film’s namesake “Hung Up on a Dream.” 

The set closer “Time of the Season” appropriately brought the house down. It was a great vehicle to get the crowd involved and served as a memorable way to leave everyone in a very satisfied and engaged state of mind. The post Live Review of Colin Blunstone and Rooney first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Sources: Naveen Rao’s new AI hardware startup targets $5B valuation with backing from a16z Former Databricks AI chief is raising $1 billion to build a Nvidia rival through a novel approach.

Judge tosses lawsuit against Yuga Labs over failure to satisfy Howey testThe plaintiffs failed to show how Bored Ape Yacht Club and other NFTs represent investment contracts under the SEC's 3-pronged Howey Test.

Billy Messenger CTAG Dynamic Range CompressorThis is a simple compressor plugin that was build with the goal in mind to create a good sounding compressor for a wide variety of signals and applications. The GUI is kept minimalistic to improve usability and not clutter the screen. The original version of this plugin was developed by p-hlp at: https://github.com/p-hlp/CTAGDRC. I, Billy Messenger, do not take any credit for this plugin. This version is simply a fork which adds a modern build system and prebuilt binaries available for download. Features: * Input Gain * Threshold/Ratio/Knee * Attack/Release * Auto Attack/Release * Makeup * Auto Makeup * Mix * LookAHead * Metering (Input/Output/Gain Reduction). A demonstration is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFKPXIpGRq8 Read More

Build A 3D Printed Tide Clock So You Know When The Sea Is Coming To Get YouThe tides! Such a unique thing, because on Earth, we don’t just have oceans full of liquid water—we also have a big ol’ moon called Moon to pull them around. You might like to keep track of the tides; if so, this tide clock from [rabbitcreek] could come in handy.
The motions of the tides are moderately complex; it was in the late 19th century that Sir William Thomson figured out a reasonable method to predict the tides mathematically and with a mechanical contrivance of his own design. These days, though, you don’t need pulleys and ropes to build a tide clock; you can just use electronics for display and the NOAA API to get the information you need.
[rabbitcreek’s] build is based around the Xiao ESP32 S3, which is charged with using its Wi-Fi connection to query NOAA up-to-date tide height data. It then uses this information to drive the position of a servo, installed inside a 3D-printed housing. The servo rotates a little red Moon indicator around a central Earth, with our home planet surrounded by a stretched blue marker indicating the swelling of the tides as influenced by the Moon’s gravity.
If you’re a surfer or beach driver that’s always wanting to know the tidal state at a glance, this clock is for you. We’ve featured other tide clocks before, but never any projects that can actually influence the tides themselves. If you’ve figured out how to mess with gravity on a planetary scale, consider applying for a Nobel Prize—but do notify the tipsline before you do.

King ISO speaks to Music Connection About Ghetto Psycho and MoreNebraska rapper King ISO recently spoke to Music Connection writer Adam Seyum about his past, and everything that he's got going on.

See the interview (and don't forget to subscribe) on MC's YouTube channel (@musicconnectionmag) here:

The conversation drops shortly after the release of King ISO's Ghetto Psycho album, via Strange Music.

About the record, he commented, “There are things that happened to people growing up in my community and similar communities. A lot of individuals wind up getting involved in gangs, hustling, or abusing drugs. These things happen when you’re in the ghetto, but it’s not limited to our ghetto. It could be overseas in a third-world country or in a trailer park. We need to have conversations about these traumatic experiences, leading to healing rather than accepting them as the norm. What makes you go crazy? You may go through a mental health crisis, but you’re told it’s normal. It shouldn’t be normal to see fentanyl overdoses, so many shootings, and people dying on Instagram. This shit has created a whole bunch of Ghetto Psychos who don’t know they’re hurting. I’m getting to the root of the problem.”

Photo Credit: Darryl WoodsThe post King ISO speaks to Music Connection About Ghetto Psycho and More first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Bandcamp Friday Returns Today — Waiving Fees to Support Artists​In August, Bandcamp Friday brought in more than $3.5 million for independent artists and labels in just 24 hours.
The post Bandcamp Friday Returns Today — Waiving Fees to Support Artists​ appeared first on Hypebot.

Dynaudio’s new Delta amps arrive Comprising five new models, the Delta series promises to deliver the same reliability, consistency and performance as Dynaudio's renowned loudspeaker systems. 

Heritage Audio transforms its Tubesessor Optical Tube Compressor into plugin formBack in 2022, Heritage Audio released its Tubesessor Optical Tube Compressor, a reimagined take on the classic optical compressor. The hardware harnessed a vintage sound and pushed it into a modern realm – and now, three years on, its been transformed into a handy, versatile plugin.
The Tubesessor Optical Tube Compressor plugin allows for “crystal-clear opto-compression” from the comfort of your DAW. Just like the physical tech, the plugin allows you to toy with sounds reminiscent of the Raytheon double triode tube, enabling you to capture subtle warmth or a full-blown clamour of fuzzy, tube-driven grit.

READ MORE: Shadow Hills OptoMax turns the prized optical section of the popular Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor into its own dedicated plugin

The plugin also has five internal side-chain filtering options, allowing for even more fuzzy experimentation. Whether you’re fiddling with your guitar, bass, drums or vocals, you can unmask sounds to add a little extra space and groove to your tracks.
In terms of controls, the plugin allows you to tweak input gain, ratio, attack, tube saturation, threshhold and more. There are also SC filter options to tweak how sensitive the Tubesessor plugin is to certain frequencies, as well as the ability to flick between different attack/release settings.
The plugin is supported on Mac and PC, as well as being compatible with all major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, and more.
In terms of price, the Tubesessor Optical Tube Compressor is available for $99, with the option of trialing it out for 14 days totally free. There’s also an option to redeem a free Tubesessor Native lifetime license if you’re a pre-existing i73 PRO owner.
Tubesessor Optical Tube Compressor is available now. However, if you already own the i73 PRO, head to Heritage Audio to claim your free license.
The post Heritage Audio transforms its Tubesessor Optical Tube Compressor into plugin form appeared first on MusicTech.

How EVEN’s Direct-to-Fan Platform WorksEVEN’s artist empowerment platform offers a direct-to-fan tool with daily payouts so artists can develop and monetize fan relationships.
The post How EVEN’s Direct-to-Fan Platform Works appeared first on Hypebot.

From Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ to Spotify’s leadership shakeup… it’s MBW’s weekly round-upThe biggest headlines from the past few days – all in one place
Source

Robot Rocket might be the closest you can get to a Daft Punk-style vocoder sound without a DigiTech TalkerWhen you think of artists synonymous with the vocoder, few spring to mind quite like Daft Punk. The Robots – Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo – employed the technology across their catalogue of hits, and can be heard on Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, One More Time and Get Lucky, to name a few.
Fundamentally, a vocoder is a device which takes human voice input and uses it to control a separate signal, usually from a synthesizer. While Daft Punk used an array of vocoders across their catalogue, the DigiTech Talker was one of them.

READ MORE: “Never thought I’d be saying this, but thank you Fortnite”: Daft Punk fans hail “closure” with Fortnite collab

Now out of production, genuine DigiTech Talker units command a hefty price on the second-hand market, but thanks to a new plugin from fledgling app brand Bjango, you can now harness a similar vocoder sound for a fraction of the price.
Robot Rocket is a new plugin which “delivers the distinctive sound of a classic 90s vocoder”, and Bjango says it “captures the sound” of the original Talker.

The plugin has two distinct modes: Retro and Modern. Retro has three settings: TalkBox, “probably the sound you’ve heard the most”; NuVo, which increases intelligibility by letting more sibilant sounds pass through; and TazMania, which replaces the synth input with white noise, “which sounds like robotic whispering”.
Modern mode, on the other hand, offers users more controls to “push Robot Rocket into new soundscapes”, with a quality setting which can be adjusted to sound smoother and more intelligible.
There’s also a shift control for pitch-shifting the voice input, as well as low and high pass buttons which have been “carefully tuned” to match the original Talker.
To help keep your vocals intelligible even while sounding like a robot, Robot Rocket has a voiced vs unvoiced detection option, which means it automatically “switches between the synth output and white noise for sibilant sounds”, injecting white noise when it picks up on any “S” and “T” sounds in your vocal lines.
Robot Rocket is available now as an Audio Unit 3 plugin, and is priced at launch at $29, until 12 October, when it’ll rise to $39. There’s also a 30-day free trial, so you can use it for a few weeks before making up your mind.
For more information, head to Bjango.
The post Robot Rocket might be the closest you can get to a Daft Punk-style vocoder sound without a DigiTech Talker appeared first on MusicTech.

Splice Instrument is the new home of Spitfire Audio’s LABS
Splice releases Instrument, a free virtual instrument that is the new home for Spitfire Audio LABS. Spitfire Audio’s LABS has gone from being the people’s champion to a topic of much contention in recent times. The once seemingly universally adored LABS, a regular source of outstanding free instruments, generated a massive shift in public opinion [...]
View post: Splice Instrument is the new home of Spitfire Audio’s LABS

Synth Picnic pop-up events With more and more traditional music retailers closing their doors, and online-only sales dominating the music industry, Molten Music Technology founder and SOS contributor Robin Vincent has taken it upon himself to offer an alternative solution.