Machina Bristronica: Show Round-up The SOS team went along to Machina Bristronica 2025 to see what’s new, and managed to get some overviews and demos from a handful of the event’s exhibitors.

Sweetwater rock out with GuitarFest Hosted at the Sweetwater's campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, GuitarFest brought together over 70 manufacturers, more than 20 world-class guitarists and numerous industry leaders for a day-long celebration of all things guitar.

W. A. Production Vocal Compressor is FREE for a Limited Time via Gearspace
W. A. Production is offering its Vocal Compressor plugin for free in collaboration with Gearspace for a limited time. This isn’t a new release. Vocal Compressor is a previously paid plugin that usually sells for $39.90, now available at no cost for just a few more days. Its sibling Vocal Limiter was free a while [...]
View post: W. A. Production Vocal Compressor is FREE for a Limited Time via Gearspace

Novation Play packs Sequential, Oberheim and Novation synths into a single plugin for Launchkey MK4 ownersNovation has launched Novation Play, a new plugin for Launchkey MK4 users which packs in over 80 sounds sampled from classic Novation, Sequential and Oberheim synthesizers. 
With one-to-one hardware integration with Novation’s Launchkey encoders, pads and buttons, Novation Play offers an “instrument-like workflow”, and is available for free for existing owners of Launchkey MK4 keyboards.

READ MORE: Could the Novation Launchkey MK 4 become the new heart of your studio?

Made in partnership with Swedish plugin developer Klevgrand, Play is designed with hardware integration in mind. It features pre-mapped controls, hardware-based preset switching and visual feedback via colour-coded drum pads, to help “remove dependency on a mouse and keyboard and to keep users in their creative flow”.

“We’re proud to present Novation Play, our expressive and intuitive new instrument that brings decades of iconic, heritage synth sounds to Launchkey MK4 owners,” says Lola Muresan, Product Owner for Novation Play.
“We took a truly hands-on approach, spending weeks meticulously sampling Novation, Sequential, and Oberheim synths in order to showcase the beauty of each model. We’ve carefully shaped and curated each preset, and we’re looking forward to hearing how artists bring them to life in their own unique ways.” 
Included in Novation Play are 80+ sounds, including “expertly-designed” basses, leads, pads, FX and drum kits, sampled from well-known hardware synths including the Novation Bass Station II, Nova and Peak, as well as Sequential’s Prophet 5 and Prophet Rev 2, and Oberheim’s OB-6.
There’s also a host of FX onboard, including four pad FX buttons: Chorus, Cassette, Spinner and Freeze, as well as a lush reverb, spacey delay and powerful single-knob compressor at the end of the chain.
Novation Play works both as a standalone app and as a VST/VST3/AU/AAX plugin within all major DAWs.
New and existing Launchkey MK4 owners can download Novation Play now from the “My Software” section of their Novation account.
For more information, head to Novation.
The post Novation Play packs Sequential, Oberheim and Novation synths into a single plugin for Launchkey MK4 owners appeared first on MusicTech.

Artists, Voice Your Opinion in White House’s RFI on Future AI RegulationThe White House's new Request For Information allows citizens (and artists) to voice their opinion on AI regulation.
The post Artists, Voice Your Opinion in White House’s RFI on Future AI Regulation appeared first on Hypebot.

How streaming scams hurt independent musicians"It's not just you, music streaming is broken," says Cameron Gorham who makes music and videos under the moniker Venus Theory. Learn how streaming scams hurt independent musicians and why he argues, "you don't have to play the game."
The post How streaming scams hurt independent musicians appeared first on Hypebot.

Akai Launches MPC Live III Standalone With 8-Core Processor, Clip Matrix, Stems, and 3D PadsAkai launches the MPC Live III, a standalone music production center with 8-core power, 3D pads, Clip Matrix loop launching, and built-in mic + speakers.
The post Akai Launches MPC Live III Standalone With 8-Core Processor, Clip Matrix, Stems, and 3D Pads appeared first on DJ TechTools.

Introducing Splice INSTRUMENT: Our new flagship virtual instrument plugin
Explore Splice INSTRUMENT, our virtual instrument plugin that puts an ever-growing catalog of free and premium sounds at your fingertips.

“It’s shocking, disheartening and insulting”: Cardiff band speaks out after AI artist trained on their music outperforms them on SpotifyAI music is becoming more and more prevalent, with the likes of Deezer and Spotify both recently announcing measures to combat its rise on their platforms.
Spotify recently announced a crackdown on AI “slop” in a bid to protect the artists on its platform, while Deezer revealed nearly a third of all music uploaded to its platform daily is fully AI-generated.
The potential for fully AI-driven music projects to become successful is strong, as demonstrated by the Velvet Sundown, which, this year, amassed half a million monthly Spotify listeners before being revealed as an ‘artist’ with music generated by AI platform Suno.

READ MORE: Daniel Ek is stepping down as Spotify CEO

With the availability of AI music generators, it was inevitable AI-generated music would find its way into people’s playlists. But what about when it starts outperforming the music of artists upon which it has been trained?
Lucas Woodland, frontman of Cardiff-based band Holding Absence, says this has now affected his band, saying an AI artist by the name of Bleeding Verse has been trained on its music, and has more monthly listeners, at the time of writing.
At present, Holding Absence have just over 851,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, while Bleeding Verse has over 904,000.
Woodland, in a new post on X, has shared his thoughts on Bleeding Verse: “So, an AI ‘band’ who cite us as an influence (ie, it’s modelled off our music) have just overtaken us on Spotify, in only two months.”
He continues: “It’s shocking, it’s disheartening, it’s insulting – most importantly – it’s a wake-up call,” and urges listeners to “oppose AI music, or bands like us stop existing”.
Per Bleeding Verse’s YouTube channel bio, the project is “inspired by artists like Dayseeker and Holding Absence”, and “blends ambient textures, soaring vocals and poetic lyricism to explore grief, identity and healing. Lyrics from the heart. AI-assisted instrumentation and vocals”.
Legislation has yet to meaningfully catch up with the training of AI on copyright-protected material, with many artists and industry professionals concerned about the music on which these models are trained, and whether the appropriate licences have been obtained.
Last year, the big three record labels, Universal, Sony and Warner, sued AI music generation platforms Suno and Udio over “unimaginable scales” of copyright infringement.
The post “It’s shocking, disheartening and insulting”: Cardiff band speaks out after AI artist trained on their music outperforms them on Spotify appeared first on MusicTech.

Eldoraudio releases Stem Splitter, a FREE online stem separation service (beta)
Stem Splitter by Eldoraudio is a new online stem separation service that is available for free use. The service is currently in its open public beta stage, after which, the developer expects to launch a paid plan with premium features (longer audio files, higher quality output, etc.). The good news is that, even when a [...]
View post: Eldoraudio releases Stem Splitter, a FREE online stem separation service (beta)

Get the UVI Dual Delay X creative spatial delay plugin for just $19
You can snap up UVI’s Dual Delay X right now for just $19 (down from $59) in a 68% off exclusive deal at AudioDeluxe.  Dual Delay X is a 64-bit-only release for Windows 10 and later, and macOS 10.14 Mojave and later, available in AU, AAX, VST, and VST3 formats. Taking a gander at the [...]
View post: Get the UVI Dual Delay X creative spatial delay plugin for just $19

Trump nominates acting FDIC chair to officially head the agencyTravis Hill has served as acting FDIC chair since Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, later issuing guidance on crypto-related activities and criticizing allegations of debanking.

OpenAI staff grapples with the company’s social media pushCurrent and former OpenAI researchers seem torn over how the company's Sora app fits in with its broader mission.

Safari Pedals & Karanyi Sounds offer Hawk Phaser plugin FREE for a limited time
Safari Pedals has teamed up with Karanyi Sounds to offer the Hawk Phaser plugin completely free for a limited time. Normally priced at $49, you can grab it right now using the code KARANYIHAWKFREE at checkout. The Hawk Phaser is a vintage-style modulator designed to deliver everything from gentle, shimmering movement to deep, swirling textures. [...]
View post: Safari Pedals & Karanyi Sounds offer Hawk Phaser plugin FREE for a limited time

Segger’s Awkward USB-C Issue With the J-Link Compact DebuggerTheoretically USB-C is a pretty nifty connector, but the reality is that it mostly provides many exciting new ways to make your device not work as expected. With the gory details covered by [Alvaro], the latest to join the party is Segger, with its J-Link BASE Compact MCU debugger displaying the same behavior which we saw back when the Raspberry Pi 4 was released in 2019. Back then so-called e-marked USB-C cables failed to power the SBC, much like how this particular J-Link unit refuses to power up when connected using one of those special USB-C cables.
We covered the issue in great detail back then, discussing how the CC1 and CC1 connections need to be wired up correctly with appropriate resistors in order for the USB-C supply – like a host PC – to provide power to the device. As [Alvaro] discovered through some investigation, this unit made basically the same mistake as the RPi 4B SBC before the corrected design. This involves wiring CC1 and CC2 together and as a result seeing the same