Injection Molding Using a 3D PrinterRecently [Stefan] of CNC Kitchen took a gander at using his gaggle of 3D printers to try injection molding (IM). Although the IM process generally requires metal molds and specialized machinery, 3D printers can be used for low-volume IM runs which is enough for limited production runs and prototyping before committing to producing expensive IM molds. In the case of [Stefan], he followed Form Labs’ guidance to produce molds from glass-infused Rigid 10K resin (heat deflection temperature of 218 °C). These molds are very rigid, as the ceramic-like noise when [Stefan] taps two together attests to.
Injection molded bolt, with imperfections on the head. (Credit: Stefan, CNC Kitchen)
The actual injection process is where things get more hairy for [Stefan], as he attempts to push the clamped-shut mold against the nozzle of the FDM printer to inject the molten plastic, rather than using an IM press. With PLA at standard extrusion temperature the plastic barely gets into the mold before solidifying, however. Following this, higher temperatures, different materials (PETG, TPU) and high flow-rate extruders are attempted, with varying results.
Many of the struggles would seem to be due to poor mold design, rather than fundamental issues with using an FDM. The Form Labs document details some of the basics, such as opening up the injection gate (to decrease pressure inside the mold), adding air vents to improve flow and so on. Commentators to the video with professional experience point out many of these issues as well, along with the benefits of preheating the mold.
With the caveat that most of the challenge is in making a good mold, we’ve even injection molding done with nothing more exotic than a hot glue gun. If you’ve got a friend, or a long enough lever, you can even inject the plastic by hand.

Waves plug-ins updated to V15 Waves V15 rolls out a whole host of new features across the company’s plug-in line-up, adds new plug-ins to some of their existing bundles, and ensures compatibility with the latest operating systems. 

How the major labels plan to cost Suno and Udio billions (and why it all rests on Michael Bublé)The AI music companies' business model "threatens to eliminate the existing market for licensing sound recordings"
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“People want to talk without doing homework”: Swizz Beats on criticism of Verzuz beat battle deal with Elon Musk’s XAfter a two-year hiatus, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s Verzuz beat battle will be returning. But there’s a catch – it will have a new home on social media platform X thanks to a partnership deal with Elon Musk.
In a recent Instagram post, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Elon Musk can be seen clinking cocktail glasses on a yacht. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” the caption reads. “Tt’s official, Verzuz is back and 100% black-owned again…We will also be building new entertainment businesses on the X platform.”
READ MORE: “I have an entire army of people that need their pay cheque”: Docuseries executively produced by Eminem explores the internet’s impact on the music business
Verzuz gained popularity during the 2020 pandemic, hosting battles with artists such as Boi-1da vs Hit-Boy and T-Pain vs Lil Jon. Hip-hop fans delighted in the regular showdowns on Instagram Live. However, a legal matter with Triller in 2022 brought the beat battles to a halt. The deal with X will allow the show to pick up where it left off.
Despite the jovial post, there has been an instant backlash. “You made a deal with a racist” one comment reads. Fans are particularly up in arms about the date too; the announcement was made on 19th June, otherwise known as Juneteenth, when slavery was emancipated in the United States. “Imagine selling yourself to the most well known racist… then announcing it on Juneteeth,” another mournfully notes.

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A vast majority of feedback is particularly damning. “Trying to force Black people back to Twitter [X] with music while you’ve made the site a playground for straight up white supremacists is an insult to our intelligence,” one user writes, aiming their comment at Elon Musk. “Basically saying ‘it doesn’t matter how we treat them as long as we give them a hot beat to dance to.’ NO.”
Swizz Beatz has been selective with his responses. One of his longer comments reads as such: “You will see my intentions as always. We must change what we don’t like, not complain about it. We go hard since the 90s. People will soon see the plan. I understand that people have questions, and they will also understand I’m not a silly person.”
Certain responses from Swizz Beatz seem to swerve around the point.
One user comments “should’ve done this on another platform,” listing “Instagram, Facebook or even Fanbase — a Black owned app.” But the show has always been on Instagram; “Verzuz been on this platform from day one,” he writes. “People want to talk without doing the homework.”
However,  some online users claim they’ve already done their homework on Musk, citing his appearance on The Don Lemon show where he argued that the country should “move on” from racism. “We are all descended from slaves,” he insists, while also doubling down on X’s Open Door Policy on allowing hateful content.
Lemon also had his own partnership deal in place with Musk. Following the interview, the contract for his X talk show was immediately cancelled.

Despite the backlash, Swizz Beatz remains undeterred. He insists Verzuz will remain “100% Black owned” under himself and Timbaland. “The last thing we did was sell out,” he explains.
Read more music technology news. 
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Live Music grosses break records, but many shows are struggling [Pollstar Mid-Year Report]Live music trade Pollstar’s annual Mid-Year 2024 Report shows a sector with its highest total grosses ever while showing real signs of a slowdown. Overall, the live music industry is. Continue reading
The post Live Music grosses break records, but many shows are struggling [Pollstar Mid-Year Report] appeared first on Hypebot.

Listen to some of the AI songs that RIAA allege copyright infringement by Suno and UdioAfter three record labels filed lawsuits against AI music platforms Suno and Udio yesterday (24 June), the Recording Industry Association of America has shared some of the tracks that sound seriously similar to popular songs.
One track, with prompts including “contemporary r&b” and “male singer”,  is titled jason derulo and the first lyric is “Jason Derulo” – of course, the American singer famously sings his own name at the start of his songs.  The reference being that the prompted track seemingly bears a striking likeness to a Jason Derulo-style song.

READ MORE: What does Suno AI mean for music producers and the music industry?

Another track, with prompts including “1950s rock and roll” and “jerry lee lewis” has the title You shake my nerves and you rattle my br. The lyrics and melody appear to be a heavy nod to the lyrics and melody of Great Balls of Fire.
The third track the RIAA shares is based on the prompt “mellow trap”  with the music allegedly bearing similarities to the French producer CashMoneyAP.
The RIAA is leading the lawsuits, with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records Inc. among the plaintiffs. The lawsuits allege that the AI music platforms have unlawfully trained their generative AI models on recordings from the label. According to the RIAA, this is “mass infringement of copyrighted sound recordings copied and exploited without permission by two multi-million-dollar music generation services.”

Name that tune !
Sound familiar? That's because @suno_ai_ is training AI on copyrighted works…: https://t.co/GnRxCA0rDc: https://t.co/lr3Z7tHmyB: https://t.co/zXjPi68lJF
Learn more about our legal action against Suno: https://t.co/LOFOSrRp9M pic.twitter.com/OmF7iUqAd7
— RIAA (@RIAA) June 24, 2024

An RIAA spokesperson provided a press statement to MusicTech in light of the lawsuits: “Suno continues to dodge the basic question: what sound recordings have they illegally copied? In an apparent attempt to deceive working artists, rightsholders, and the media about its technology, Suno refuses to address the fact that its service has literally been caught on tape – as part of the evidence in this case – doing what Mr. Shulman says his company doesn’t do: memorizing and regurgitating the art made by humans.
“Winners of the streaming era worked cooperatively with artists and rightsholders to properly license music. The losers did exactly what Suno and Udio are doing now.”

Tell me you use copyrighted recordings without telling me you use copyrighted recordings…
Listen to these AI samples from @udiomusic… Oh wait, they took them down. But check out the prompts used to create the recordings.
Find out more: https://t.co/LOFOSrRp9M pic.twitter.com/S0mkY87XeD
— RIAA (@RIAA) June 24, 2024

Read more music technology and industry news.
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Waves launches V15 update with two new StudioVerse productsWaves has announced two new StudioVerse products as part of its V15 update: Instruments and Audio Effects.
StudioVerse Instruments is brand new, and allows you to play thousands of customised chains from Waves’ online library that combine layered instruments, MIDI FX, and audio FX. You can create and share your own instrument presets across DAWs, and publish them on StudioVerse too.

READ MORE: This year’s GearFest UK to take place at Tileyard London on 13 July

Meanwhile, StudioVerse Audio Effects is the updated version of StudioRack. Now, it’ll allow you to load up to eight plugins inside a VST wrapper, while you can make changes to your own mix chains by assigning macros to the main window.
Like with StudioRack, you can use the AI-powered search to analyse your track’s audio – it’ll suggest a range of presets and plugins. There are thousands of presets spanning multiple genres created by Grammy Award-winning mixers and producers, while the software allows you to host third-party VST3s and split plugins into multiband and parallel chains.

Waves says about the update, “Our newest update brings significant enhancements to our plugins for 2024. Coupled with the new StudioVerse experience: access to the biggest online preset library in your DAW including the brand-new StudioVerse Instruments plugin. Waves V15 will allow you to work with the latest OS and DAWs and give you more power, with updates to MIDI capabilities, parameter locking, and added features to existing plugins.”
While both of the plugins are free, you’ll need to own any of the individual Waves plugs included in the StudioVerse presets to be able to use them. Audio Effects is backwards compatible with old StudioRack presets and sessions, too.
Earlier this year, Waves launched the SuperRack LiveBox and a new version of its eMotion LV1 Live Mixer.
You can find out more about Waves V15  at Waves.
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Is Spotify’s CEO richer than any musician in history?There’s a lot more money to be made in streaming music than there is in creating it. Spotify CEO Daniel EK has an estimated net worth of $4.9 billion dollars.. Continue reading
The post Is Spotify’s CEO richer than any musician in history? appeared first on Hypebot.

How to nurture SuperfansWe’ve all chased that elusive viral moment, but real longevity comes from nurturing your biggest supporters. Here’s how top artists are building long-lasting, direct fan connections. by single.xyz We’ve all. Continue reading
The post How to nurture Superfans appeared first on Hypebot.

Flandersh Tech Releases FREE Dynamension Creative Compressor for Windows
Last week, Flandersh Tech released the free Dynamension Creative Dynamic Processor plugin for Windows.  Like all plugins from the developer, Dynamension is available exclusively as a VST3, 64-bit release.  Flandersh Tech explains that Dynamension breaks up the ordinary structure of compressors and expanders, making it possible “to feed the main path, sidechain and gain control [...]
View post: Flandersh Tech Releases FREE Dynamension Creative Compressor for Windows

New in Create: Start with your own loop and bring your idea to life
Upload your own audio to Create and discover Splice sounds that match the key, tempo, and vibe of your loop.

AIR Music Tech release Soft Clipper With AIR Soft Clipper, AIR Music Technology become the latest company to offer their own take on one of FL Studio's most popular plug-ins.

Create Music Group, at $1 billion valuation, raises $165 million investment roundCreate says money will help fuel growth in scale and its global acquisition strategy
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Rick Rubin’s secret music festival in Tuscany hosted performances by James Blake, Arcade Fire and Jack DorseyRarely do producers spiritually connect with music quite like Rick Rubin. Over the weekend, the producer celebrated such a connection between sound and nature, by hosting an intimate festival, under the Italian sunshine, to mark the start of the summer solstice.

READ MORE: “I was like, ‘Oh shit, this is actually a really good song!’”: Rick Rubin made Beabadoobee relearn all her demos on acoustic guitar before recording her new album

With only 150 invitations sent out, Rubin’s Festival Of The Sun was an incredibly under-the-radar affair. Hosted in a medieval village in Tuscany, the festival primarily took place in the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta church.

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Among the performers involved, electronic music artist James Blake made an appearance, while Beth Ditto performed alongside her band Gossip, and Arcade Fire‘s Win Butler and Régine Chassagne knocked out tracks.
There were also performances from DJ Cosmo Gonik, London-based cellist Lucinda Chua, and Michael Milosh’s one-man-band Rhye. Even Twitter founder Jack Dorsey performed, albeit a lecture titled ‘Tech and Freedom’. Movie director Andrew Dominik also held a screening of his 2019 Nick Cave documentary, This Much I Know to Be True.
Notable attendees also included Måneskin‘s Thomas Raggi and Ethan Torchio, as well as Italian rapper Ghali.
It’s no surprise Rubin was able to lure in such a diverse bunch of acts. Over his impressive career, the Def Jam records founder has worked with some of music’s finest, including heavy metal titans Metallica, nu-metal icons Linkin Park, hip-hop icons Jay-Z, Kanye West and Nas and even the dulcet tones of Adele. Most recently, Rubin produced indie darling Beabadoobee’s upcoming album This Is How Tomorrow Moves.
The majority of the festival was held inside the gorgeous church, but some acts took to a publicly accessible main stage outside. While the festival was exclusive, Variety reports that “access to the town’s main stage was open to the public free of charge.”
We’re unsure if Festival Of The Sun will remain a one-off, but Rubin has previously expressed interest in hosting festivals. In docu-series Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza, Perry Farrell revealed that Rubin wanted to buy Lollapalooza in 2004. “I don’t know why, but Rick Rubin decided to make an offer to me to buy the name for like a million dollars,” he explained. “I won’t tell you exactly how I put it, but I said no.”

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Read more music technology news. 
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Reason 13 and Reason+ subscription: At almost 25 years old, does this DAW still cut it?Reason 13 £499, or £199 if upgrading from an earlier version
Reason+ subscription £1 for first month then £19.99/month
reasonstudios.com
When Reason debuted in 2000, it was a breath of fresh air. At a time when many DAWs could seem daunting, its hardware-style rack of virtual instruments let you to get hands-on with music production while learning at the same time. There were even virtual patch cables to connect devices together — and fun quirks like removable screws.
Its sequencer and mixer were similarly approachable and, although it’s evolved, Reason’s workflow remains much the same today. Is that enough, however, when the competition has also become so much more capable?

READ MORE: The best DAWs for music producers in all genres, styles and workflows

Having been away from Reason for a number of years, I spent some time with it to find out.
Reason license versus Reason+ Subscription
We have to start with the pricing model. You have two options: a one-off purchase of Reason 13 costing £499 giving you full access to the DAW and its core instruments and effects (known as Racks). If you bought Reason 12 after 1 January 2024 the upgrade is free, which doesn’t sit right with us. Reason Studios shouldn’t be dividing its customer base — if the company wants to reward Reason 12 buyers, it should reward them all regardless of purchase date. Considering the DAW is arguably more niche than the likes of Ableton Live, Logic Pro and FL Studio, it seems wrong to be alienating some of its customers in this way.
In any case, Reason Studios would prefer you to sign up for the Reason+ subscription, which starts at £1 a month, and then moves up to £20. This sub includes Reason 13, plus major updates like Reason 14, and gives you access to all Rack devices and sound packs, while the buyout option omits a number of modules compared to the subscription version. This is the best option if you want to try Reason out for a short while, and is perfect for new or casual music producers exploring what software to use.
But, over a number of years that monthly subscription fee will really add up. Ideally, Reason Studios would offer the full feature set to those buying Reason outright, as well as to subscribers which would seem like a fairer deal. Besides, if subscriptions as a concept really bother you, neither Logic, Cubase or Ableton Live currently use them.
Reason 13 browser
How to use Reason 13
Getting set up is easy, with a companion app managing your authorisations and downloads of the sound banks, Rack devices and additional sound packs if you’ve opted for the subscription.
Reason’s interface is quite unusual, defaulting to a multi-pane window within which you can show, hide and resize the mixer, rack and sequencer sections. There’s also a Devices list from which you can drag and drop instruments and effects into the Rack, including any VST plugins installed on your system.
Reason 13’s Browser lets you intuitively search quickly for any patches, loops or samples within sound banks or on your system. Bundled content is pre-tagged and you can edit tags for any item, as well as using category tabs and your own folder shortcuts to find things swiftly. There’s also auto-play of selected items which is helpful. The Browser is similar to Cubase’s MediaBay, and is a significant improvement on previous versions.
Because Reason shows you its various tools within a single window, the interface can get quite busy. But it is possible to detach the main mixer and rack sections to any additional monitor screens you have, making for a far less fraught workflow.
Reason 13 mixer
A change in 13 is that the sequencer will now split its Edit view into a new area so you can see your arrangement and the data being edited at the same time, just like Ableton Live, Cubase and others. There’s also a dark mode, if that’s to your liking.
Reason’s devices are pretty cool, with the developers adding new models while keeping the beloved original ones. There are synths and samplers, drum machines, loop players and a wealth of mixing and special effects. There are a few new devices in 13; Polytone is a warm analogue synth, Ripley a classic-sounding space delay, while new sidechain, gain and stereo tools boost your mixing toolset.
Then there are clever tools like the Combinator that lets you build multi-instrument and effect modules in a single container, Player instruments that generate MIDI, and utility devices for routing audio and MIDI creatively. All these can be freely routed by spinning the Rack around and patching cables which was, and remains, an incredibly powerful strength of this DAW.
There’s audio tracking too, with automatic time- and pitch-stretching, audio slicing and quantis. Reason’s audio editing features aren’t as deep as Cubase or Logic Pro, but they’re adequate for most users’ needs. You can’t get into very fine-detailed, sample-level manipulation of sound and its range of processing options is more limited, but if that’s not an issue for you, you’ll find the tools it does have are quick and effective to use. Automation is also straightforward, even though you can automate practically every single one of the thousands of parameters available to you.

Reason 13 rack
What is Reason Rack?
An interesting feature that Reason has had for a few years is that a version of the software – its Rack, minus the mixer and sequencer, can be used as a VST3 and AU plugin inside another host.
Load it up as a software instrument in another DAW and you’ll see its Rack and full complement of modules available to use as a source. None of the mixing or sequencing stuff is there since this would probably be overkill (although FL Studio uses it when in plugin mode) so you’re really just accessing all the sounds from another DAW.
There are plugin suites and bundles around that also let you add loads of modules to a DAW, like Arturia’s V Collection at £300, but Reason’s Rack is more varied in terms of the selection of types of modules it provides.
Reason is different to other DAWs. There are some big omissions when compared to Logic Pro and Cubase Pro, both of which cost less than Reason 13 at full price. There are no tools for working with surround, no scoring support, no video support, and no integrated support for working via the cloud. The depth of MIDI and audio editing tools is also limited in comparison.
Reason 13 sequencer
Despite that, Reason is a lot of fun to work with and more than capable of producing professional quality tracks. Its workflow encourages experimentation and the cabling system that’s been there from the start remains a strength. It has everything you need to play, program, mix and edit music and the whole approach – drag and drop modules, load up a sound, tweak, drag some effects and so on – is user-friendly in a way that most DAWs cannot quite match. That comes at the cost of a more streamlined feature set, but the content is strong (with the subscription version especially) and the integration of the sounds with other DAWs via plugin mode is genuinely useful.
Should you get Reason or Reason+?
For some people, Reason alone can be a creative studio for end-to-end music-making, especially since it can access your third-party plugin collection. Its strengths are its intuitive workflow, sound design and easy sequencing.
You may not abandon your existing DAW for Reason but its unique approach to sound design and its user-friendly sequencer make it a fine companion; an alternative way to compose and build tracks. And though the plugin mode isn’t as tight an integration as ReWire was – you could stream audio and MIDI between both DAWs for deeper manipulation — it can still capably complement your main DAW.
The £499 purchase is a hard sell compared to the subscription. It sadly has fewer Rack devices and is pricier than competing DAWs — though this feels like it’s by design. On the flip side, by taking the subscription option with its full set of sounds, you get to see how Reason fits into your workflow over a period of time without the big initial payment, so it might suit you well. After all, the launch offer of £1 for the first month means there’s no reason not to give it a try.

Reason 13 audio edit
Key features

Standalone DAW for Mac and PC
Wide selection of Rack instruments, effects and utilities
Supports VST plugins and works as a plugin in other DAWs
Audio recording, time and pitch stretching
Virtual cable routing system
New tag-based browser
5 new Rack modules
ReGroove MIDI system
Flexible window system
ReMote MIDI mapping system

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