13x Audio releases Colony, a FREE six-effect plugin for macOS, Windows, and Linux
13x Audio has released Colony, a free multi-effect plugin that combines saturation, modulation, reverb, ducking, stereo widening, and lo-fi color in one window. The six effects, which 13x calls Cells, are grouped around the central ENERGY knob. When you turn it, each active Cell moves through its own range. You can set those ranges in [...]
View post: 13x Audio releases Colony, a FREE six-effect plugin for macOS, Windows, and Linux

Cableguys release TimeStop The latest plug-in from Cableguys offers an interesting new take on the classic tape-stop effect, and also promises to make it quicker and easier than ever to create thanks to an intuitive automation-based approach. 

Plugin Alliance Makes bx_console N and Five More Plugins FREE
Plugin Alliance is now offering six plugins for free, including the bx_console N channel strip, Lindell Audio 254E compressor, and bx_masterdesk mastering tool. We covered Plugin Alliance’s previous 20-plugin bundle in 2024. Their free plugins page now offers a completely different set of six plugins, available with any free Plugin Alliance account. Plugin Alliance’s support [...]
View post: Plugin Alliance Makes bx_console N and Five More Plugins FREE

Cables restricting your movement during DJ sets? AlphaTheta’s new HDJ-F9 headphones might just be the ticketNever a dull moment at AlphaTheta HQ… Just days after announcing a new partnership with Bitwig to allow producers to import their DJ libraries directly from rekordbox, the music gear giant has expanded its lineup of professional DJ headphones. Meet its new HDJ-F9 cans…
Boasting a wireless design so you can be free to move at will behind the decks, the HDJ-F9’s spec sheet is headlined by AlphaTheta’s proprietary SonicLink ultra-low-latency wireless technology.
Credit: AlphaTheta
Though technology has, of course, come a long way, it’s often assumed that a wireless product must come with some sort of trade-off in terms of latency or connection speed. But SonicLink pushes latency to such a low level that it’s imperceptible – as low as 9ms. This is combined with SonicLink Touch Pairing, which offers seamless connection with compatible DJ equipment.

READ MORE: Plugin Boutique launches new tiered membership programme that rewards you based on how many plugins you buy

It’s for DJs and producers “who demand high-quality sound and reliability from their headphones but also want the freedom to move around and express themselves without the restrictions of cables”, the company says.
Credit: AlphaTheta
While they boast a minimalist modern aesthetic, there’s a companion Headphones Connect app from AlphaTheta, which lets you customise the colour and brightness of the Status LED. A DJ set is often as much about the visuals as the music, so the ability to make your Status LED red to complement a red lighting theme, for example, will be a welcome feature for DJs.

Obviously, comfort is also key for long DJ sets, so the HDJ-F9 cans feature swivel-mounted hangers and a flexible silicone headband, ensuring top-tier comfort always. The adjustable slider is made from tough die-cast aluminium, and they’ve passed international durability tests,” AlphaTheta says, so DJs can be confident they’ll survive the elements.
Price-wise, the new HDJ-F9 professional on-ear wireless DJ headphones clock in at £329 / $349 / €379.
You can learn more at AlphaTheta.
Credit: AlphaTheta
The post Cables restricting your movement during DJ sets? AlphaTheta’s new HDJ-F9 headphones might just be the ticket appeared first on MusicTech.

Plugin Boutique launches new tiered membership programme that rewards you based on how many plugins you buyA regular shopper at Plugin Boutique? Good – the online plugin marketplace has just launched the Plugin Boutique Membership, its new loyalty programme which rewards you based on your spend in the last 12 months.
Essentially everyone with a Plugin Boutique account is enrolled in the new Plugin Boutique Membership programme, and there are three tiers depending on how much you’ve shopped with PB in the last year.

READ MORE: Bubblegum: the free plugin that brings detailed pitch editing to producers on a budget

First off, there’s the “Member Tier” – every Plugin Boutique member starts here. This includes access to hundreds of free plugins, plus 5% Virtual Cash with every purchase.
Next up, if you’ve spent at least $100 in the last 12 months, you’re part of the Silver Tier. This gives you everything in the previous tier, but also unlocks Creator Perks, as well as “exclusive industry benefits that help producers learn, grow and get heard.
And finally, “committed producers” who have spent at least $200 in the last year are part of the Gold Tier, which includes everything in Member and Silver, plus 7.5% Virtual Cash on every purchase, and even a free mystery plugin to claim every month – that’s 12 free new tools every year.
The Plugin Boutique Membership is new, but it takes into account your previous 12 months of activity on the site. In other words, it might be new, but if you’ve spent $200 since October 2025, you’re part of the Gold Tier.
“More people than ever are making music,” says Plugin Boutique. “The music production software market has reached $1.53 billion and is forecast to grow to $2.02 billion by 2030, according to The Business Research Company. Plugin Boutique is seeing that growth firsthand, with new producers up 36% in the past year.
“But being a producer today means much more than making music. Producers are expected to do it all: mixing, designing, marketing and managing, and wearing all those hats pulls them away from what they love most: making great music. 
“The new Plugin Boutique Membership champions the human producer, giving them more ways to make it from their first plugin to first release with tools, industry savings and creator perks that keep creativity flowing.”
Learn more at Plugin Boutique.
The post Plugin Boutique launches new tiered membership programme that rewards you based on how many plugins you buy appeared first on MusicTech.

Billy Cobham's 10 Favorite Albums of All TimeBilly Cobham’s musical influences run deep. Discover his 10 favorite albums, featuring jazz legends, groundbreaking fusion, and timeless recordings.

Ambani’s Jio seeks to raise $3.2B in what could be India’s biggest IPOJio plans to use most of its IPO proceeds to repay debt as it expands beyond telecom.

Organizations join forces to fight Illinois crypto tax, after 6-month pauseIllinois officials already agreed to delay implementation of a 0.2% tax on crypto assets, but industry-aligned organizations are pushing for summary judgment on the merits.

Happy Birthday Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues  The Moody Blues’ Days Of Future Passed was recently celebrated with an expanded 50thAnniversary Deluxe Edition 

Days Of Future Passed was the Moody Blues’ landmark second album and formally marked the beginning of the band’s psychedelic era. Featuring the London Festival Orchestra, this richly orchestrated album followed in the wake of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour but was in itself a unique and highly original piece of work. The album includes the hits “Tuesday Afternoon” and the ever-enduring “Nights In White Satin,” which established the Moody Blues as true pioneers in the development of progressive rock.

Singer, songwriter and guitaristJustin Hayward was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England on October 14, 1946.

In 1966 he replaced the departing guitarist Denny Laine after the group had achieved a hit record with “Go Now,” a cover of a Bessie Banks record.

Hayward was initially contacted by Mike Pinder the Moody Blues’ keyboardist, who had received Justin’s letter and demo discs from Eric Burdon of the Animals where Hayward  answered an ad in the Melody Maker. At the same time bassist/vocalist John Lodge replaced another founding member, Clint Warwick, joining another co-founder, drummer Graeme Edge.  Ray Thomas, a vocalist and flute player was then enlisted for their unique sonic mixture.  

Hayward penned “Fly Me High,” a Moody Blues’ Decca single in 1967, and then “Leave This Man Alone,” and collaborated with Pinder on his “Love And Beauty,” the first Moodies record to incorporate the mellotron. This instrument is early version of sampling keyboards.

Harvey Kubernik and Justin Hayward 2012 interview

Q: Take me to the process of writing “Tuesday Afternoon” and then doing it for The Days Of Future Passed LP.     

A: We had the idea for a stage show and then it really came from Mike who had written a song, ‘Dawn is a Feeling’ which I really loved. And then we got round to sort of thinking about this would be quite a good idea for a sort of thematic stage show about the day in the life of one guy. And I just sort of chose, ‘I’m gonna do the afternoon.’  And I had already done ‘Nights in White Satin’ written and recorded.

“So I went back to where my parents lived in the west country in England and with a guitar and went out that afternoon sat in the side of the field and smoked a joint and then came back with ‘Tuesday Afternoon.’ That was about it. I thought it was kind of a cheeky little song that wouldn’t really mean much.  

Q: You debuted “Tuesday Afternoon” on a BBC radio session, before it was done with the band and the London Festival Orchestra conducted by Peter Knight.

A: It meant a lot to do the BBC after going professional. Totally. But I think it comes from us being a kind of reliable bread and butter live band for the BBC. We did a lot of ‘Easy Beat’ and ‘Saturday Club’ sessions for the Beeb. And they were very kind to us. But, you know, they got their monies worth out of us. They hardly paid us. (laughs).

Q: Did your early tunes like “Tuesday Afternoon” and ‘Nights in White Satin” even as you first wrote them and cut them with the Moodies always have such inherent cinematic qualities? Even without the orchestration, they are quite visual numbers. For example, your mono recording of “Nights in White Satin” is included in the bonus disc of the 2006 deluxe edition 2CD set of Days Of Future Passed.

A: I wish I could say I thought of it in those terms. But it was probably more to do with just the sort of, I hope this doesn’t sound too pretentious, I’m sure it is, the kind of search for enlightenment that young people do, and psychedelic experiences that I was going through. And it has more to do with that probably than thinking of it in a contrived way, you know, in a film sort of way. Interestingly enough, Tony Clarke used to think like that all the time.

Q: “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Nights in White Satin” were eventually recorded with the orchestra. Not the original game plan when you wrote them.

A: Not at all. But I have to say the single version of ‘Tuesday’ and the single version of ‘Nights in White Satin’ do not have any orchestra on it. It’s just a Mellotron.

“But I was at the session when they did the orchestra sessions. And they did it in one take. They had already laid out the songs on a four-track machine and they were bouncing to another four track. And so they did one run-though with the orchestra and then the take itself. And so I was astounded when I heard this stuff. And Mike had already done the spoken word stuff. So it was astounding to listen to that.

“But in truth, I thought we were making a kind of arty album that I might get invited to a cocktail party and might meet some nice lady from The Observer, and that’s about it. That was as far as a thought. So I wasn’t completely overwhelmed by it. I thought it was a limited appeal album. And really, the people who were in charge of it were the Decca stereo people. It was their album. A demonstration record. And we weren’t even asked into the control room.

Q: What role did the mellotron, even back then, play or impact your songwriting process and then recreating the Moodies sound on stage?

A: Well, Mike and the mellotron made my songs work. That’s the simplest way I can put it. When he was playing piano it was difficult for me to try and find something that would be percussive on the piano and that would be interesting. And particularly because Mike had already played, you know, the greatest piano single ever, so that was going to be an impossible act to follow. But when he found the mellotron, suddenly my songs worked, you know. When I played the other guys ‘Nights in White Satin’ they weren’t that impressed until Mike went on the mellotron and then everyone was kind of interested. (laughs). Because it really started to hang together from the mellotron.

Q: Days Of Future Passed and your tunes on it, owing partially to radio airplay and constant rotation, have achieved anthem-like status.

A: I don’t think there’s another album like Days Of Future Passed. And really, if you want to test your stereo system chose it because it’s still is one of the great quality studio recorded albums. And the engineer and the production had a lot to do with it.

“It’s just absolutely beautiful. And I would recommend it. The appeal of it was that we went our own way. The appeal was that we did think it was a small limited appeal album. And a lot of people who listen to it feel that way about it. ‘It’s just for me.’ It’s not a worldwide kind of thing. Not everybody liked it. It wasn’t universally liked. So I still like the fact that it was for an exclusive kind of audience. And only certain people would really appreciate or have the patience for it. And I think that’s it, really. That we went our own way and created our own identity with it.

Q: After Days Of Future Passed landed on the charts and sold, it was quite apparent being in this band was going to be your life. And the Moody Blues continued with another album. How do you even create a follow-up to this work? 

A: And the second album we were alone. But fortunately, Decca gave us Derek Varnels and Tony Clarke. And we had a load of songs, including ‘Legend Of a Mind,’ and maybe it might had been ‘Voices In The Sky,’ were done at the time of Days Of Future Passed. Our tracks don’t take up much time when you put them all together, like on Days of Future Passed.

“So, we already had a couple of things, And out of that came this thing that Mike used to do this thing on the piano. And the second album came out of that. And we had a theme early on that we write to and that was it. And then it coincided with our first tour of America. And we decided, well we didn’t decide, it was that we were everybody’s support band. That was the way we worked. We would support anybody and go on tour opening up. We always figured opening up was the best place to be. We’d be back in the hotel by 9:00 pm. Luckily, In Search of the Lost Chord, and ‘Ride My See-Saw’ and ‘Voices in the Sky’ took off.  

Q: I saw the band live a couple of times in the L.A. area in 1969 and 1970, once with Spirit, and I know on occasion there were some technical problems with the Mellotron on stage. These were primitive days in the technological recreation of studio sound. Were there any comical situations where the Mellotron broke down or slowed a show of yours?

A: Even at our Isle of Wight festival show that (director) Murray Lerner shot, there were real problems with the voltage. ‘Cause the voltage affected the mellotron. So if the voltage fluctuated so did the mellotron’s pitch. That’s one. (laughs). There’s a couple of things like that where I’ve mixed live and you hear things that obviously the audience is never gonna hear.

“And then the other one was doing our very first gig for Bill Graham at the Fillmore East and then for the mellotron to pack up in the first song. And for Mike to spend the first set with his head in the back of the mellotron was devastating. I just remember the blues guy, John Mayall, who was also on Decca, and extremely pissed off that we were above him on the bill. (laughs). I just remember him looking across and seeing him in the wings laughing his head off at Mike. And he knew Mike well. And so bless him..

Q: I seem to remember in 1969 the Moody Blues played a Love-In in Los Angeles.   

A: Yes.

Q: I always enjoyed that on your albums there were bits of spoken word and narration integrated in some of the songs. Recitation and talk. Was that part of the process when you were preparing the projects or doing pre-production?

A: It wasn’t so much by design. It was Graeme wanted to contribute. He was a good lyric writer. He was good at spoken word. He was a poet. And we had to get it in there somehow. And he would often try and bring the whole album theme together with his spoken word stuff. And he did that very well. So that’s where that came from.

“Then also that album called The Zodiac Cosmic Sounds on Elektra Records. (incorporating moog synthesizer from Paul Beaver and narration by Cyrus Faryar). That really turned us on. And we have to give that album some credit for really influencing us.       

Q: From your Question of Balance LP, I used to spin a Mike Pinder song, “How Is It (We Are Here)” that followed your “Question.”

A: Oh yes!

Q: Are you even aware that decades ago, those songs chronicled the world of physical existence, and others, like your tune “Cities,” were a comment on ecology and planetary concerns. Akin to the Doors’ “When the Music’s Over.” Some local radio stations used to couple the recordings together. Man, you were making an impact beyond the chart hits. The ecology theme was translating back to us teenagers in Hollywood. 

A: I was absolutely aware of that. I was a country boy and I never really, apart from a couple of times in my life for a few weeks, I never really, you know, lived in the city before. So I was very much in my mind. I love the English countryside. And London was a big kind of frightening place. But I knew it held the future. You had to be in London to get anything done. But it didn’t stop me kicking it.                            

Q: On your 2012 U.S. tour, what is it like singing and performing songs from Days Of Future Passed that you initially wrote and recorded just after being a teenager, and now 45 years later it is you as an adult doing them.  Is the song or the message the same or different? I know you’ve embraced your back catalog, and active in re-mastering and income streams, but are these songs and the recordings now another experience for you?

A: Well, now that’s a good question. Because I think they are relevant today. There’s a naivety about them that I would not, and this is the same for all of us in the band, that I would not have the courage to write today. And it’s as simple as that. I’d be afraid of writing it or exposing something that would be to kind of criticism. So, I’d play it a lot safer now.

Q: What was it like the last few decades overseeing re-mastering and reissues of your first batch of albums?

A: My first reaction was when we went back (1972) to do the Quadraphonic, the 5.1 version of Days Of Future Passed which could only come from the Quad that the late Tony Clarke and engineer Derek Varnals had done it in Quad at the time. In the same studio with the same echoes with the same notes. And Derek Varnals was always good at keeping notes. And I was just astounded. I just thought, ‘How on earth did we do that?’ Because most of it was live and we were bouncing. You had to get it right and then bounce or to double-track the vocals or anything. And my reaction was, how on earth did we do it? I just don’t know, really. It’s like listening to another group of people. I’m far enough away now to be able to separate.

Photo courtesy of Carl Lender/Wikicommons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.The post Happy Birthday Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues   first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Using an ESP32-C3’s RF Hardware for DVB-S2 Video TransmissionGenerally the DVB-S and -S2 standards require a satellite somewhere in Earth orbit to provide a signal to receive, but you can also transmit your own DVB-S2 stream with any RF transmitter if you’re so inclined. Courtesy of recent breakthroughs in using the RF hardware of the ESP32 on a raw level, [SP8ESA] has created the ESP32-DATV project using which you can broadcast a DVB-S2 signal using an ESP32-C3.
While a host PC side application handles the heavy lifting of turning the input video signal into a DVB-S(2) compliant signal, it is the ESP32-C3 that prepares the samples for transmission before sending them off to its RF block, with no external hardware needed.
If this brings to mind the idea of using an off-the-shelf DVB-S2 receiver to play back the signal, the frequency range for DVB-S2 is 10.7 – 12.7 GHz, while the ESP32-C3 is limited to roughly 2.4 GHz courtesy of it targeting only 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals.
Using the ESP32 to transmit is already heating up.
Thanks to [ftg] for the tip.

Here’s exactly what Amazon, Spotify, Apple and other streaming services want to pay songwriters for 2028–2032Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Pandora, and Google have filed their rate proposals in Phonorecords V
Source

RiffAlly RiffAlly LoopRecord a short accompaniment and play along with its repeat. RiffAlly Loop lets iPhone musicians select whole bars from a recorded take or capture a fixed length of 1 to 64 bars. Set a tempo from 40 to 240 BPM and choose a time signature for the practice loop. It is a single-loop tool, not a multitrack recorder; overdubbing and audio export are not included. Read More

Stream Pro from Delta Sound Labs Delta Sound Labs have just launched a new granular synthesis plug-in that allows composers, producers and sound designers to turn their own audio samples into playable instruments and evolving textures. 

Bubblegum: the free plugin that brings detailed pitch editing to producers on a budgetBubblegum is a new free plugin that enables music producers the ability to adjust the pitch, timing and duration of individual notes within recorded audio, including notes played simultaneously in chords.
Developed by Your Smile is Art, the plugin offers a graphical approach to pitch editing inspired by Celemony’s Melodyne. It’s available for Windows and macOS in VST3 and AU formats, while a Linux version remains in beta.
How it works
Bubblegum analyses recorded audio and displays the detected notes as individual shapes on a piano-roll-style interface. Users can then move notes to different pitches, reposition them in time or change their duration, making it possible to correct performances or reshape musical phrases without the necessity of recording them again.
Its ability to work with polyphonic material is a key feature, allowing users to manipulate individual notes within a chord rather than restricting editing to a single vocal or melodic line.
Bubblegum arrives during a wider push to make pitch-correction tools more accessible. AutoTune Go is now available in FL Studio, including to users on the free tier of FL Cloud. While AutoTune Go focusses on real-time vocal tuning, Bubblegum takes a different approach, giving producers hands-on control over individual notes in recorded audio.

The plugin’s workflow involves loading it onto an audio track and using its Transfer function to capture the material for editing. Once the audio has been transferred, the detected notes can be adjusted directly within the plugin’s timeline
Alongside individual-note editing, Bubblegum includes global Pitch and Formant controls, which can be linked to shift the overall recording together. A quantize function moves detected pitches to the nearest semitone, offering a starting point for pitch correction.
More detailed adjustments are available through six editing modes: Main, Vibrato, Drift, Slide, Volume and Formant. These provide additional control over the characteristics of individual notes, including their pitch movement and tonal qualities.
Background
Bubblegum was created by electronic music producer M Fusina, who publishes software under the Your Smile is Art name. The project began after the developer encountered problems with their copy of Melodyne and decided to build a simpler alternative.
Although Bubblegum does not offer the full feature set of established commercial pitch-editing software, its combination of polyphonic note manipulation and detailed editing control makes it a potentially useful option for producers looking to experiment with recorded audio without investing in a paid tool.
Bubblegum is available to download for free from the Your Smile is Art website, with optional donations available.
The post Bubblegum: the free plugin that brings detailed pitch editing to producers on a budget appeared first on MusicTech.

UVI Player replaces free UVI Workstation and now plays Falcon Expansions
UVI Player is a free instrument player for macOS and Windows that opens UVI soundware inside your DAW or as a standalone app. It replaces UVI Workstation, and you can start making sounds with it for free even before buying a library. We covered UVI Workstation 4 last year, and Player is the same core [...]
View post: UVI Player replaces free UVI Workstation and now plays Falcon Expansions