Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter explains why he’s “not interested in the creative use of AI”Thomas Bangalter, one-half of the legendary electronic music duo Daft Punk, has weighed in on the use of artificial intelligence in music.
Bangalter has fashioned a post-Daft Punk career that has included collaborations with film director Alfonso Cuarón and German DJ, Rampa. But his collaborations will not include artificial intelligence as he finds the prompt-based process needed to use the controversial tool does not align with his creative process.

READ MORE: “On a personal creative level, it’s how we got to Random Access Memories”: Thomas Bangalter on Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy score

He tells Chanel: “My relationship to creation and my relationship to art is mostly happening at a deeper level, which does not express itself through words. That’s probably why I’m not really interested in the creative usage of artificial intelligence for many reasons.
“But the main one probably is because it goes through a verbal expression, which is prompting, and I feel really the most interesting part of the creative process is happening not at all on an intellectual level or on an expressive level, where you’re actually going through a process which is about understanding your feelings, and, and I feel it’s the same, you know, where we’re sitting here [talking] about architecture.”
Later in the interview, Bangalter says that the “unpredictability” of creativity from people is impossible to emulate with an AI tool.
He added: “Unpredictability, I feel. I feel that unpredictability is what will save this society because everything that happens are surprises. There are bad surprises, but it can only happen also through good surprises, and that’s really the complex world today because on one hand, unpredictability and disruption needs to happen to get us all of this mess.
“But it cannot happen from the machine because if you have unpredictability from artificial intelligence, then this is very dangerous. Everything that happened in history is through an impulse of collective derailment from society.
“So it’s complicated because we need to surprise ourself and to be more and more unpredictable, and we can’t have technology do that for us.”

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InMusic has allegedly shut down Native Instruments UKAfter acquiring Native Instruments in May 2026, InMusic has allegedly closed the brand’s UK office, putting its UK team members at risk of termination.
According to company filings in July, Native Instruments’ CEO, Nick Williams, has been removed, along with Simon Cross, the chief product and technology officer. InMusic Europe’s CEO, Richard Seymour, has seemingly replaced them.
The closure of the Native Instruments UK office may see the termination of positions including product manager, product designer, engineering manager, chief financial officer, VP global marketing, senior product designer, and senior product engineer. Many of these positions cover work on Maschine, Kontakt, and Komplete. The alleged cuts may also see the removal of Tim Adnitt, who is president of the MIDI Association and VP of product and sound design at Native Instruments.
The news first surfaced in a Reddit thread last week, which read: “The layoffs continue: InMusic just fired the whole native instruments UK office…What everyone already thought about InMusic turns out to be correct once again.”
In a statement issued to MusicTech, InMusic does not directly address claims on missed payments, but does acknowledge affected employees:
“As part of the ongoing integration of Native Instruments into the inMusic family of brands, we are simplifying our organisational and legal structure, including Native Instruments UK. This includes removing layers that were established to support a private equity ownership model, as well as streamlining other areas of the business to create a faster, more efficient organisation focused on innovation, customers, and long-term growth.
“We recognise the impact these changes have on affected employees and are committed to supporting them throughout the transition.
“Native Instruments remains a strategically important part of inMusic, and our commitment to the brand is unchanged. Product development continues at a strong pace, with major new hardware and software initiatives already underway for 2027 and beyond.”
Meanwhile, a number of new roles have appeared on InMusic’s career page, mostly based in Rhode Island, USA, and Cambridge, UK. These positions include content development engineer, lead product manager, lead product designer, and more product-focused responsibilities.
This mass layoff follows news from July that InMusic fired 100 employees across all departments at Native Instruments.
Upon acquiring Native Instruments, InMusic published a sit-down interview with its global CEO and founder, Jack O’Donnell. Within the first few seconds of the interview, Jack O’Donnell says: “The future for NI, I can assure you, is very exciting, very bright, and very secure.”

The news echoes InMusic’s decisions following its acquisition of Moog Music in June 2023. The brand’s original statement, which is no longer accessible via Moog’s website, claimed that, in acquiring Moog, it would “offer solutions to support the areas that have been ongoing challenges for our company as a small manufacturing business”. By late September 2023, InMusic had laid off 30 team members at Moog’s historic HQ in Asheville, North Carolina, and moved parts of its manufacturing pipeline to Taiwan. Moog has released two major synthesizers since then: Muse and Messenger,
Read more music production and industry news.
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TubeOhm releases TO-Sampler, a FREE SynthEdit sampler for Windows
TubeOhm has released TO-Sampler, a free sampler plugin and standalone instrument for Windows. The main reason I’m featuring this one in the news is that we recently covered SynthEdit 1.6, which finally added native macOS support after decades of being a Windows-first plugin development environment. TO-Sampler is Windows-only for now, so it is a good [...]
View post: TubeOhm releases TO-Sampler, a FREE SynthEdit sampler for Windows

Air-G Audio releases Air-G EQ Pedal, a FREE Airwindows-powered EQ for Windows
Air-G Audio has released Air-G EQ Pedal, a free six-band graphic equalizer plugin for Windows and Linux. Air-G EQ Pedal is part of Air-G Audio’s Guitar Collection, a growing series of guitar-pedal-style effects built on Chris Johnson’s open-source Airwindows DSP code. We recently covered the same developer’s Air-G Plugins Collection, which brought custom GUIs to [...]
View post: Air-G Audio releases Air-G EQ Pedal, a FREE Airwindows-powered EQ for Windows

I/O Music release Talkback Independent Swedish record label I/O Music have recently released a handy new tool that provides artists, engineers, producers and labels with a convenient way to share and feed back on mixes and masters.

Wilkinson: “Buy one decent controller and synth, and learn them inside out…The producers I admire know their tools incredibly well.”Ad feature with Novation
“Headlining Alexandra Palace has been my dream since day one,” said British producer Wilkinson on Instagram last November. That sentiment was posted two days after the d’n’b artist played his ambitious NIRVA show at the iconic London venue, with 10,000 ravers behind him, hands in the air.
NIRVA, which was the biggest headlining live show of his 16-year career to date, was created alongside INFINITY, Wilkinson’s fifth album. He produced the album during a frantic period of moving house, moving studio, and building the brand-new show. But the March 2026 album’s success is a function of this chaos, with the swirling life events making Wilkinson consider “tension and how songs connect together,” he tells us.
With collaborations from the likes of Kaskade and Camo & Crooked, INFINITY is a gritty, explosive and, at times, pensive record. Alongside the rolling synth bass and anthemic stabs are serene and soaring vocals from Julia Church, Ilira, iiola, and Emily Makis.

We speak with the artist amidst his summer tour to hear why a new plugin purchase won’t unlock the sound you want, and why he just can’t let go of his Novation Bass Station.
Hey Wilkinson! You produced INFINITY while moving house and studio, plus the ambitious NIRVA show. What impact did all of that have on your decisions in the production process?
“It was one of the busiest periods I’ve ever had. The time it took to make the album definitely influenced the different styles of drum ‘n’ bass on the record. As what I was playing in my sets was evolving, so was my inspiration for the album.
NIRVA definitely influenced the album as it evolved. Once you’re designing a live show on that scale, you naturally start thinking about dynamics, tension and how songs connect together. I wasn’t writing tracks specifically for the show, but I was imagining how certain moments would translate live.”
Tell us about NIRVA. What did you learn about your own music when putting this show together?
“It was probably the biggest creative challenge I’ve taken on. A DJ set is one thing, but building a live show from the ground up forces you to look at your catalogue completely differently.
I realised how important space and emotion are. In the studio it’s easy to think about drops and impact, but on stage the quieter moments become just as important because they make the bigger moments feel even bigger. It made me appreciate that a lot of my music isn’t just about energy, it’s about contrast and emotion.”
Wilkinson @ Alexandra Palace. Image: Emma Davies & Ed Fry / Novation
NIRVA has a frantic, exciting light show, but not the kind of visuals we typically see at raves these days. What convinced you to avoid the screens and roll with only the lights?
“That was a very deliberate decision. LED screens are amazing but they’re everywhere now. I wanted people looking at the performance rather than watching another giant video wall. So I put these to the side of the stage so that people at the back could feel immersed in the performance.”
“Light has this incredible ability to create atmosphere without telling the audience exactly what to think. It feels more timeless and leaves more room for imagination. We wanted something that felt immersive rather than cinematic, almost like the lighting itself became another instrument in the show.”
Can you run us through your NIRVA setup?
“Everything is built around making the performance feel live rather than simply pressing play. Ableton Live is the heart of the show, but there’s a lot happening around it. We trigger different sections, stems, and transitions live, and I’m constantly manipulating effects, bringing elements in and out, and extending sections depending on the energy in the room.”
“My Novation controllers are a massive part of that workflow because they let me get hands-on without thinking about the technology. Whether it’s launching clips, triggering moments or controlling effects, everything becomes muscle memory, which means I can stay focused on the performance instead of staring at a laptop.”
Wilkinson @ Alexandra Palace. Image: Emma Davies & Ed Fry / Novation
The Novation Bass Station has been a fixture in your setup for years. What is it about that synth that’s kept it in the chain when so much else has come and gone?
“It just has a character that never gets old. There are loads of software synths that can technically do similar things, but there’s something about reaching over, grabbing a filter and hearing it respond instantly that always sparks ideas. It cuts through a mix really naturally, whether it’s a bassline, a lead or just some texture sitting underneath everything else. I’ve owned loads of gear over the years, but the Bass Station has always found its way back into sessions because it’s immediate. You spend less time programming and more time making music.”
Back in the studio, what’s the path from idea to recorded sounds? What sparks an idea for you?
“Every track starts differently. Sometimes it’s a vocal, sometimes it’s a chord progression, sometimes it’s literally just a sound that makes me stop what I’m doing.”
“I try to get ideas down really quickly before I start analysing them. Ableton Live is where everything comes together because it’s so immediate, and then I’ll start pulling in hardware if something needs more personality. Quite often, it’s the imperfections from a real synth or recording that end up becoming the thing the whole track is built around.”
You said recently that you find a lot of inspiration outside D’n’B, and that you want to “start stepping out of drum and bass in my production and my sets”. What does that actually look like; do you have a vision for that when you’ve finished the tour?
“Drum ‘n’ bass is in an amazing place, but I never want to feel boxed in by one genre. I’m constantly listening to other genres of music and bringing those influences into the style of music I create. I don’t ever see myself ever leaving drum ‘n’ bass behind. I’m just excited to explore some other genres that have a similar energy and include them in my next album project.”

In 2019, you worked with Sub Focus at Real World Studios. Did working in a studio like that change what you reach for when you’re back in your own room?
“It reminds you that great studios aren’t just about having expensive equipment; they’re about creating an environment where you can focus completely on making music. Working there definitely made me think more about recording real sounds and using space creatively, but when I got back home I realised the most important thing is still having a setup that lets you work quickly. Ideas disappear if your workflow gets in the way.”
If a producer wanted the closest honest entry point to your sound on a sensible budget, what would you point them to first?
“I’d tell them to buy one decent controller, synth and learn them inside out. People often think another plugin or another expensive bit of hardware is going to unlock something, but it’s usually the opposite. The producers I admire know their tools incredibly well.”
Wilkinson @ Alexandra Palace. Image: Emma Davies & Ed Fry / Novation
After 15 years of Wilkinson, you must have a good sense of what works for you and what doesn’t. What’s a music production myth you often hear that you think needs debunking?
“That finishing a track means it’s perfect. Most of the records people connect with have imperfections in them, and that’s what gives them their individual character. I think people can get stuck chasing technical perfection instead of emotion. If something makes you feel something, that’s usually the most important thing.”
INFINITY‘s still fresh and the festival run is in full swing. Where does the sound and the studio go next: new gear, new processes, a new room?
“The biggest thing is creating space to experiment again. The last couple of years have been about delivering a huge show and finishing an album. Once touring settles down, I want to get back to making music without expectations.”
“There’ll always be new gear to try, but I’m actually more interested in finding new ways of working. Changing the process usually has a much bigger impact than buying another piece of equipment. That’s where the exciting ideas tend to come from.”
The post Wilkinson: “Buy one decent controller and synth, and learn them inside out…The producers I admire know their tools incredibly well.” appeared first on MusicTech.

AlphaTheta XDJ-AN review: Hate physical controls? You’ll love this!€1,149 / £999 / $1,199, alphatheta.com
Trying to bridge the gap between a Pioneer DJ XDJ-RR successor and a more affordable alternative to laptop-and controller-based DJing, the XDJ-AN enters the market with a clear goal: deliver a club-inspired layout in a simplified, all-in-one package.

READ MORE: The CDJ-1500X’s new song request feature is either genius or ragebait

Its sparse control surface may aim to appeal to newcomers who find modern DJ gear intimidating, but with a price tag of £999, expectations inevitably rise on the feature set. Simplicity is one thing, but buyers will still want to feel they’re getting plenty of hardware for their money.
Making a connection
Taking it out of the box, the unit is pleasantly weighty and has a lovely look and feel. Around the back you’ll find three USB-C ports. One handles power via the supplied brick adapter, one is dedicated to media storage, and the third connects to a computer or mobile device. The decision to place the media port on the rear panel is one of the XDJ-AN’s biggest missteps. Not only does it abandon the usual top-mounted USB location, but the move to a single USB-C may frustrate DJs with collections of USB-A flash drives ready to go, and those wishing to perform back-to-back at a house party.
A side-mounted port under the screen, or a more traditional position on top, would have made far more sense. As it stands, a USB drive protruding from the rear feels awkwardly exposed amongst the audio connections. This is especially the case with an official rekordbox USB-C key that is quite long compared to other flash drives. The included power brick is also a minor annoyance, although the ability to power the unit from a MacBook charger, powerbank or other compatible USB-C supplies helps soften the blow.
Connecting a computer or mobile device is straightforward thanks to the dedicated USB-C connection. Once linked, the XDJ-AN works as a controller for several major DJ platforms.
Image: Press
With rekordbox, the hardware unlocks Performance mode without requiring a subscription, while Link Export support allows you to browse and play your existing library directly from the unit. Serato users gain immediate access to Serato DJ Lite, although upgrading to Serato DJ Pro still requires a separate licence or subscription. Support for Algoriddim djay Pro is also included, providing native desktop control for users already invested in that ecosystem.
Android support feels less complete. Android devices can only connect wirelessly, while wired mobile connectivity is reserved for iOS users. The DJM-REC app also remains iOS-exclusive. Given the audience this product is targeting, broader Android support would have been welcome. Perhaps that’s something AlphaTheta will address in future updates.
Audio connectivity is functional, if somewhat basic. There’s a welcome balanced XLR master output alongside unbalanced RCA outputs, plus a balanced jack microphone input. The omission of a booth output isn’t surprising at this price point, but it’s still disappointing. Likewise, there is no physical auxiliary RCA or even a 3.5 mm input.
Instead, AlphaTheta offers Bluetooth input and output functionality. While convenient on paper, Bluetooth remains a compromise in DJ environments due to latency concerns, and it’s worth noting that Bluetooth input and output cannot be used simultaneously.
More interesting is the inclusion of SonicLink, AlphaTheta’s ultra-low-latency wireless headphone technology. Alongside the standard 3.5 mm headphone output, SonicLink offers a genuinely cable-, and latency-free monitoring option. The problem is that the only compatible headphones currently available sit comfortably above the £300 mark. It feels reasonable to assume more affordable SonicLink products will arrive in the future, but for now it’s difficult to see many XDJ-AN buyers taking advantage of the feature.
Build quality is decent enough. There’s plenty of plastic here, but nothing feels particularly flimsy, and the capacitive jog wheels perform exactly as expected. They’re responsive, predictable and perfectly capable for the audience this unit is aimed at.
Image: Press
The clean lines of the XDJ-AN
Layout is where the XDJ-AN makes its boldest statement. Compared to the XDJ-RR or similarly priced controllers, the design is remarkably sparse. It’s nice to have the generous spacing and create a clean, approachable appearance, but AlphaTheta leaves a surprising amount of unused panel space.
That empty space raises questions about some of the design decisions. The pitch faders, for example, are unusually short despite there being ample room for a longer throw. In practice they’re firm enough to allow precise adjustments, but the choice still feels odd. There is also a new method for track loading, with no physical buttons to load to deck A or B. Instead, you click and select the deck with a pop-up on screen.
Dig deeper and you’ll discover that several familiar functions haven’t disappeared entirely. Instead, they’ve been moved into the rather small, seven-inch touchscreen interface. There are no dedicated buttons for Sync, Slip Mode, Quantize or Vinyl Mode, all of which require touchscreen interaction. The same applies to microphone EQ controls, talkover settings and a range of other features.
This reliance on the touchscreen continues elsewhere. One of the headline features is the adoption of the same Hot Cue layout found on AlphaTheta’s flagship CDJs. However, unlike the club-standard players, the pads only feature a single orange backlight colour. Cue types can still be distinguished visually on-screen, but the pads themselves remain back-lit the same colour regardless of function. It feels like an unnecessary limitation.
The pads also support only Hot Cues and Hot Loops when operating in standalone mode. Connect a laptop and additional software-specific pad modes become available, which is useful. Yet having features become more capable once a computer is connected, feels slightly at odds with the product’s standalone positioning.
Image: Press
Another notable omission is Key Sync. For DJs creating quick mashups, social media edits or harmonic blends, its absence is surprising. Whether you’re a fan of the feature or not, it has become increasingly useful across DJ products.
There are just three onboard Beat FX: Echo, Reverb and Flanger. They’re controlled via a hardware rotary selector and a well-designed, three-position channel assign switch, with the usual beat fraction buttons for adjusting effect timing. It’s a simple, tactile implementation that keeps the key performance controls off the touchscreen.
Alongside the Beat FX are six Sound Colour FX, selected via the touchscreen. Each channel features a dedicated Sound Colour FX knob positioned beneath the EQ section, much like you’ll find on many club-standard mixers. Turning the knob left or right applies the effect to either the low or high frequencies, while a reassuring centre-click detent instantly disengages the effect.
The implementation is intuitive and beginner-friendly, but the overall Beat FX offering feels a little light. Effects are often one of the first creative tools new DJs experiment with, and a few more adventurous options would have helped inject extra personality and performance potential into the XDJ-AN.
Perhaps the XDJ-AN’s biggest issue is its crossfader. Obviously, this isn’t a product aimed at turntablists or scratch DJs, but even beginners inevitably experiment with scratching and quick cuts. Unfortunately, the crossfader is sluggish, with a half-centimetre dead zone on either side before the audio responds. The result is a vague, imprecise feel that makes even basic cuts difficult to execute. It’s a disappointing flaw, and hopefully this is something AlphaTheta can address through a firmware update rather than being a hardware limitation. In its current state, the crossfader falls well below expectations.
Image: Press
AlphaTheta XDJ-AN: The verdict
The XDJ-AN represents an interesting moment in AlphaTheta’s product strategy.
For years, Pioneer DJ’s approach seemed relatively straightforward. Entry-level DJs bought controllers, learned the rekordbox ecosystem and eventually graduated to exporting USBs for the club-standard CDJs. The assumption was that familiarity with the Pioneer brand would naturally encourage progression up the product ladder.
What perhaps wasn’t anticipated was the sheer staying power of laptop-based DJing. Instead of aspiring to own a pair of flagship players, many DJs simply arrived at gigs carrying a controller and a laptop. In countless bars and smaller venues, that became the standard setup. Why invest thousands in installed DJ equipment when visiting DJs were happy bringing their own?
At the same time, AlphaTheta has had to navigate the transition away from the Pioneer DJ brand name while maintaining its position at the centre of club culture. Products like the XDJ-AN clearly aim to rebuild that pathway, offering an accessible introduction to a layout that resembles the company’s flagship players.
To a point, it succeeds. The deck arrangement, cue placement and overall workflow certainly feel closer to club hardware than most entry-level controllers. New DJs entering the AlphaTheta ecosystem will gain useful familiarity before stepping up to larger systems.
The problem is that the simplification occasionally goes too far. The lack of physical controls, heavy reliance on touchscreen navigation and relatively small display all create friction in daily use. For a product approaching the £1,000 mark, it’s difficult not to compare it with the outgoing XDJ-RR and notice just how many dedicated controls have disappeared.
None of this means the XDJ-AN is a bad product. In fact, it largely delivers on its core promise. When compared against the combined cost of a decent laptop and controller, you’re still getting a fully standalone rekordbox experience at a comparatively accessible price.
A handful of relatively small improvements would have elevated the XDJ-AN considerably. Better USB media integration, multi-colour Hot Cues, longer pitch faders, a booth output and less dependence on a touchscreen that occasionally feels too small for the job would all have made a big difference.
As it stands, the XDJ-AN feels like a completely capable and approachable standalone DJ system that prioritises simplicity above almost everything else. It’s fun and simple to use for the basics of DJing. For some users, that will be exactly the point.
For others, it may feel like a little too much functionality has been sacrificed in the process, and they might outgrow the unit quickly, especially when you look at the competition.

Key Features

2-channel standalone DJ system
Ultra-compact design
7-inch touchscreen
8 Hot Loops
USB-C ports for power, media storage and connection to computer/other device
3.5 mm headphone port
Balanced XLR / unbalanced RCA stereo outs
Balanced TRS mic input
3 Beat FX
6 Sound Color FX
Streaming and cloud-ready
Sonic-Link Headphone support
Dimensions: 638 × 359.2 × 89.9 mm
Weight: 5.2 kg

The post AlphaTheta XDJ-AN review: Hate physical controls? You’ll love this! appeared first on MusicTech.

The Last Night Elvis Presley Ever Performed - And He Played for 90 Minutes Like He Knew It

Piruz Labs The ElyssicaThe Elyssica is a celestial serenity synth with a built-in relaxation player. Press play and it performs gentle, evolving ambient pieces on its own, warm chords drifting through celestial pads, so you can fill a room with calm without touching a key. Or play it yourself: six blendable layers (celestial pad, angel strings, heavenly bells, air, sparkle and dream), eight macros, and 30 designed (not sampled) presets ranging from bone dry and intimate to cathedral vast. There is no sample library and nothing extra to download. Everything is pure synthesis, about 3% CPU on an Apple M1, 64-bit float internally. Runs standalone with no DAW at all, or as VST3/AU inside your DAW. Lite is free forever. Pro is a one-time purchase at $29 launch (normally $49) with a 7-day full Pro trial, no subscription and no iLok. Read More

Embattled hedge fund Situational Awareness invests $400M in chip startup Source FoundryThe AI-focused hedge fund is still making some big bets.

The Stages of Grief in Repairing a Trinitron Found in the TrashSometimes you see a project just staring at you with proverbial puppy dog eyes and you just cannot look away. In the case of a once rather nice Sony TV it was the smooth 32″ Trinitron CRT that gave [Happychoice] that look when he came across it along the side of the road. Naturally he had to beg the owner of the junkyard to please let him adopt the pupp^Wjunked TV and attempted an ill-advised repair.
Some later sleuthing revealed that this poor TV had been sitting on the side of that road for at least six years, exposed to the worst that the Italian weather and local fauna could do to it, so it was no surprise that all he got out of it even after cleaning and some repairs was a sad triple-blink of the power LED. This indicated that something on the control board was very unhappy about the status of the power supply.
Over the course of a few months this project went correspondingly from careful optimism down to the depths of depression, through the fields of bargaining and into the blue skies of acceptance of a likely far more involved repair session than originally assumed. That said, the CRT itself looks to be in pretty good nick, as do the PCBs barring the few sketchy resistors that already got replaced.
We would like to congratulate [Happychoice] on the acquisition of a fun new repair project and wish him all the luck on bringing this beast of a TV back to life.

Reflector is a FREE open-source sample discovery workstation for macOS
Composer and software engineer Austin Rockman has released Reflector, a free open-source interactive audio workstation for sample discovery. Austin contacted me about the project, and I liked the idea even before testing it. Machine learning gets thrown into a lot of music tools now, but I find it interesting when it helps us interact with [...]
View post: Reflector is a FREE open-source sample discovery workstation for macOS

Dreamtonics tease upcoming release Vocal synthesis experts Dreamtonics have just released a mysterious video that hints to what's in store for their next product release. 

BIP-110 Bitcoin branch stalls after two blocks as gap widensThe enforcing fork remains stuck at Bitcoin’s full mining difficulty as mandatory signaling proceeds with little hashpower support.

reFX introduce Rippler Offering a combination of physical modelling and subtractive synthesis, Rippler is capable of emulating acoustic instruments both real and imagined, and comes packed with an array of modulation capabilities and built-in effects.