Tiny Tapeout 4: A PWM clone of Covox Speech ThingTiny Tapout is an interesting project, leveraging the power of cloud computing and collaborative purchasing to make the mysterious art of IC design more accessible for hardware hackers. [Yeo Kheng Meng] is one such hacker, and they have produced their very first custom IC for use with their retrocomputing efforts. As they lament, they left it a little late for the shuttle run submission deadline, so they came up with a very simple project with the equivalent behaviour of the Covox Speech Thing, which is just a basic R-2R ladder DAC hanging from a PC parallel port.
The computed gate-level routing of the ASIC layout
The plan was to capture an 8-bit input bus and compare it against a free-running counter. If the input value is larger than the counter, the output goes high; otherwise, it goes low. This produces a PWM waveform representing the input value. Following the digital output with an RC low-pass filter will generate an analogue representation. It’s all very simple stuff. A few details to contend with are specific to Tiny Tapout, such as taking note of the enable and global resets. These are passed down from the chip-level wrapper to indicate when your design has control of the physical IOs and is selected for operation. [Yeo] noticed that the GitHub post-synthesis simulation failed due to not taking note of the reset condition and initialising those pesky flip-flops.
After throwing the design down onto a Mimas A7 Artix 7 FPGA board for a quick test, data sent from a parallel port-connected PC popped out as a PWM waveform as expected, and some test audio could be played. Whilst it may be true that you don’t have to prototype on an FPGA, and some would argue that it’s a lot of extra effort for many cases, without a good quality graphical simulation and robust testbench, you’re practically working blind. And that’s not how working chips get made.
If you want to read into Tiny Tapeout some more, then we’ve a quick guide for that. Or, perhaps hear it direct from the team instead?

Ludacris Joined Urban One at Cannes on Influential Beach to Celebrate the Impact of Black Culture on JuneteenthIt was a full “Luda Day” hosted by Urban One on Juneteenth at Cannes, with 3x GRAMMY-winning global superstar Ludacris as he joined us for several events in celebration of Black culture. Urban One's CEO Alfred Liggins sat down with Ludacris for a special ONE-on-ONE conversation to discuss representation, Black excellence and history. As a key member of hip-hop that has uplifted the community for decades, Ludacris shared insights including that “we (Black consumers) have our ear to the streets. We ARE the culture…” Regarding being drivers of culture and its undeniable impact and influence even before the rest of the world catches on, he added, “we are the catalyst for change in our everyday lifestyles, and everything that we witness going on...”  Ludacris’ day with Urban One was a “full circle" one. During the conversation, he shared that he started his career as a DJ on Urban One-owned station 97.5 FM, now 107.9 FM. In reflecting, he said that “(Urban One) provided a platform for me to be authentically myself and from there I was able to evolve and grow and get signed and different things.” He added, “this is a full circle moment for me coming back and having a chat and being able to perform for the company that I started with.” 

That evening, Urban One hosted ONE VIP, an exclusive VIP reception, with Ludacris making a special appearance, followed by his pulling out all the stops to cap off the night with an extraordinary performance at our Urban One party on Influential Beach presented by Brand Innovators, where he took the stage for a one-hour set during the ONE Night happy hour which featured some of his chart-topping hits including “Yeah” and “All We Do Is Win,“ as well as a duet with Carmelo Anthony. DJ Trauma was the resident DJ for the evening, and Anthony Anderson, JB Smoove and other notable athletes, celebrities, and influencers stopped by to experience the fun! The post Ludacris Joined Urban One at Cannes on Influential Beach to Celebrate the Impact of Black Culture on Juneteenth first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

2024 Business Card Challenge: Integrated Game Card[Dan Schnur] has a simple strategy to ensure their business card stays on the client’s desk and doesn’t just get lobbed in a drawer: make it into a simple gaming platform. This entry into the 2024 Business Card Challenge is based around the tinyjoypad project, integrating an SSD1306 OLED display, joypad, and push button.
Powered by the superstar ATTiny85, the electronics are really not all that much, just a sprinkling of passives to support the display and the six switch inputs from the joystick and push button. Or at least, that’s how much we can glean from the PCB images, as the PCB design files are not provided in the project GitHub.
Leaving the heavy lifting of the software to the tinyjoypad project, the designer can concentrate on the actual job at hand and the reason the business card exists to stay at the forefront of the client’s mind. In the meantime, the card can be a useful distraction for those idle moments. A few such distractions include a tiny version of Missile Command (as shown above), tiny tris, and a very cut-down Q-bert.  Sadly, that last game isn’t quite the same without that distinctive sound.

This year’s GearFest UK to take place at Tileyard London on 13 JulyThis year’s GearFest UK – the event that hosts some of the world’s top audio brands showcasing a massive selection of microphones, monitors, synthesisers, interfaces and more – will take place at Tileyard London on Saturday 13 July.
Now in its third year, 2024’s GearFest UK will see exhibits from the likes of Focusrite, Moog, Genelec, PMC, SSL, Steinberg, AMS Never, Neumann, Kii Audio, Spitfire Audio, Pioneer, Focal, Rhodes, Nord and Arturia, with many more yet to be announced.

READ MORE: Behringer to revive Mutronics’ classic Mutator filter unit

Sponsored by Sound On Sound, the event will also see panel talks with studio engineers, producers and music industry experts throughout the day, while Dolby will also take over Tileyard’s TYX Studios to offer workshops and demonstrate Dolby Atmos mixes via the facility’s 7.2.4 Neumann monitoring system.
Tickets are available to purchase now via Eventbrite, priced at £15. Tickets will also be available on the day for £20 each.
The event will open its doors at 10:00 and the first 100 people through the door will be in with a chance to win a series of prizes, including a full studio setup. The show will then close at 18:00, but GearFest promises the bar and food stalls will remain open following this…
For more information, head to GearFest UK.
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Music Production for Women: EmpowHer Sound Music Production for Women have announced an upcoming series of free beginner music production masterclasses that will be taking place in four cities across the US.

Beaufort brass library from Orchestral Tools Beaufort captures a range of expressive, emotive solo and ensemble brass performances that complement Orchestral Tools' existing brass libraries. 

From TikTok’s music investment team to Sony’s reported Queen catalog acquisition… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days…
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Behringer to revive Mutronics’ classic Mutator filter unitBehringer loves a bit of nostalgia. In 2022, the German audio company revived the Mu-Tron Bi-Phase dual-phase shifter as the Dual Phase, and it recently announced a replica of the Syncussion SY-1. Now the company is set to release its latest Mutronics clone.
The Behringer Mutator promises to emulate the exact feel of its legendary ’90s counterpart. The quirky dual analog filter, with its built-in modulation, allowed many notable acts to craft weird and wonderful soundscapes – notably Beck, Daft Punk, Radiohead, The Chemical Brothers and even Nine Inch Nails indulged in a bit of Mutator magic.

READ MORE: Behringer revives “hidden techno gem” with the Syncussion SY-1 analogue drum and percussion synth

The original 1996 Mutator effects unit had to cease production due to a key component becoming unavailable. Thankfully, Behringer is committed to making its replica as true to the ’96 model as possible. Each of the Mutator’s dual channels has a voltage-controlled filter, allowing users to churn out those signature vintage synth-like sweeps.
In an announcement on Facebook, the company shares that it has collaborated with the Mutator’s original creator, Nigel Bradbury. “Nigel Bradbury is now actively working with us to not only bring back the Mutator but also to dramatically enhance it with new features,” Behringer writes.
“His expertise and vision are invaluable in ensuring that the new Mutator stays true to its roots while offering modern advancements that meet today’s musical demands.”

We are thrilled to announce the revival of the iconic Mutator, in collaboration with its original creator, Nigel…
Posted by Behringer on Thursday, June 20, 2024

In response to fan feedback, there will also be a desktop version of the Mutator to allow rack mounting. “It’s clear that most people prefer a desktop version of the Mutator that can also be rack-mounted,” Behringer writes. “The advantage is that it needs less space, is Eurorack ready, and can be 19” rack-mounted if needed.”

After reviewing the feedback from our recent post, it’s clear that most people prefer a desktop version of the Mutator…
Posted by Behringer on Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Bradbury was only paid £50 a week to work on the original unit back in the ’90s. Eventually, he even had to cease work as it was “uneconomic and comfortable” for him to continue. Thankfully, Behringer’s replica creation and commitment to praising Bradbury will shine a spotlight on the engineer’s work.
Behringer is yet to confirm a release date for the new unit, but we’ll endeavour to keep you in the loop as we find out more.
The post Behringer to revive Mutronics’ classic Mutator filter unit appeared first on MusicTech.

KKR acquires live music giant Superstruct in $1.4bn deal (UPDATE)KKR is making the investment in Superstruct through its $8bn European Fund VI
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Steinberg says SpectraLayers 11 is a “breakthrough” in audio processing thanks to deeper AI integrationSteinberg’s SpectraLayers has had a makeover. With a bucketload of AI-driven improvements and powerful restoration and unmixing tools, SpectraLayers 11 vows to take audio editing and restoration to an entirely new level.

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

SpectraLayers 11 offers a range of features geared towards repairing and cleaning up live recordings. Users can take advantage of the Unmix Chorus module to separate lead and backing vocals, while the Unmix Crowd Noise module goes a step further, allowing you to fully remove crowd ambience from a live track.
Unmix technology also extends to instrumental isolation. Steinberg has improved its Unmix Song feature, allowing users to extract up to seven different instruments from any given track. The advanced technology will surely be useful for separating stems, making it simpler to re-imagine and remix any given project.
AI has also helped Steinberg produce a speech and vocal repair feature, Voice DeClip. Trained on hours of clips and non-clipped recordings, Steinberg insists the module has been extensively trained. As a result, Voice DeClip should be able to extract vocals from any given environment, no matter how loud or chaotic.

Alongisde the new unmixing technology, SpectraLayers’ new Transfer Brush tool should allow users to shift between source and destination layers in real time, while the Transient Pencil allows users the freedom to draw, sculpt and shape transients directly in the spectrogram.
Workflow has also been vastly improved for SpectraLayers’ 11th edition. Steinberg has introduced new dedicated panels for modules, as well as the option to chain modules and save your chains as presets.
SpectraLayers Elements 11 is currently available for £68, while the Pro edition is £254.
For more information, head to Steinberg’s website.

The post Steinberg says SpectraLayers 11 is a “breakthrough” in audio processing thanks to deeper AI integration appeared first on MusicTech.

How to Grow A Fanbase [Angela Tyler]Learn how to leverage social media, email marketing, and fan collaborations to build a loyal and engaged audience. by Angela Tyler, owner of Muddy Paw PR. Your fans are everything.. Continue reading
The post How to Grow A Fanbase [Angela Tyler] appeared first on Hypebot.

5 creative ways to share music using QR codesHere are some innovative ways to share music and expand an audience with QR codes. Learn how these simple codes can make promoting your music more effective and engaging. by. Continue reading
The post 5 creative ways to share music using QR codes appeared first on Hypebot.

UMG partners with SoundLabs to launch AI vocal plug-in MicDropUniversal Music Group and SoundLabs are launching MicDrop, a groundbreaking AI vocal plug-in. Find out how this new tool will change the way artists create music. via Celebrity Access SoundLabs,. Continue reading
The post UMG partners with SoundLabs to launch AI vocal plug-in MicDrop appeared first on Hypebot.

Avid launch Pro Tools 2024.6 The latest version of Pro Tools introduces an extensive list of features along with ARA2 support for multiple third-party plug-ins.

Shaq reveals why Ice Cube stopped him from releasing a Dr. Dre-produced track named That’s GangstaBasketball legend, DJ, and rapper Shaquille O’Neal has spoken about the time Ice Cube stopped him from releasing a Dr. Dre-produced song named That’s Gangsta.
Speaking on a new episode of The Big Podcast, Shaq recalls how Cube had decided to scrap the song because he thought the former NBA star was “more than just gangsta”.

READ MORE: “We didn’t want to live and die by someone else’s sword”: Avenged Sevenfold’s Zacky Vengeance on ditching major labels and nurturing better fan connections with the blockchain

“Cube was executive producing one of my records and he put me in the studio with Dr. Dre,” Shaq says. “I did a song called That’s Gangsta. Cube heard it and was like, ‘Nope. We’re not releasing this.’ Dre did the beat.”
“I thought it was nice,” he adds, “and then I played it for Cube… He was like, ‘Shaq, you’re a fucking Laker, bro. I don’t want you talking about nothing gangsta. We not doing none of that shit.’ And it never came out.”
Explaining his reasons for pulling the brakes on the release, Cube says: “Shaq is a dope MC, but I just felt the record was off-brand for him because, to me, he’s more than just gangsta.”
“He’s loved by millions, loved by kids. He already established that. And why go backward when you’re already forward? You’re already a household name.”
For Shaq, that incident taught him an important life lesson — to “stay true to who you are,” he says.
“Cause I ain’t gonna lie. You guys wanna be basketball players, I wanted to be y’all growing up.”
The athlete-turned-rapper has released four studio albums thus far, with his first, Shaq Diesel, going platinum.
Watch the full interview below.

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