Jungle Audio’s Duke is the trippiest lo-fi plugin you’ll ever encounterSick of staring at grey knobs and flat waveforms? Of plugins that sound good but feel like office software? Well, Jungle Audio’s latest lo-fi multi-FX, Duke, is here to shake things up.
The debut release from Jungle Audio – a creative collective led by Grammy-nominated producers Kevin Seaton and DJ Kyriakides (aka Daylight) – Duke promises to bring colour, chaos and character back into music production.

READ MORE: You can now access Tracklib samples directly from your DAW thanks to its new free plugin

As you can probably tell, this isn’t your average lo-fi plugin. Duke drops you into a swirling, animated world where every knob twist ripples across the screen and reshapes your sound in real time. Think tape warmth meets Saturday-morning acid trip – complete with a grinning 3D owl mascot who reacts to your every move.
“We wanted to build tools that make the creative process more interactive, intuitive and fun on a new level,” says co-founder Seaton. “We’re blurring the lines between audio engineering and entertainment.”
Underneath Duke’s psychedelic skin sits a serious DSP engine. The plugin fuses the nostalgic grit of tape, vinyl and early digital samplers into one deceptively simple interface. A handful of knobs control a lush lo-fi playground of saturated textures, dynamic noise layers, and wobbly musical modulations – perfect for adding character to any source.
Credit: Jungle Audio
More than cosmetic, these changes are designed to deepen engagement and turn the production process into an experience, not a routine. “We wanted plugins that feel special and different,” says DJ Kyriakides. “In the same way that rare analogue gear has a unique sound and soul, Duke brings that same energy into the digital environment.”
Retailing now at a Black Friday Sale price of $49 (U.P $79), Duke is available in Windows and Mac in VST3, AU and AAX plugin formats.
Learn more at Jungle Audio.
The post Jungle Audio’s Duke is the trippiest lo-fi plugin you’ll ever encounter appeared first on MusicTech.

Original Loopmasters founder Matt Pelling buys company back from Beatport: “Loopmasters has always been in the inspiration business”Loopmasters has been reacquired by former owner Matt Pelling, who sold the company to Beatport back in 2020.
Founded by Pelling in 2003, Loopmasters became a leading sample library and a go-to for producers worldwide, and the team later started Plugin Boutique and Loopcloud, which, like Loopmasters, were acquired by Beatport in 2020 for an undisclosed amount.
Since the sale, Pelling has served as a director of the Rhodes Music Group. He confirms to MusicTech that he’ll stay involved in both companies for the “foreseeable future”. Now, the new acquisition marks the first time Plugin Boutique and Loopmasters have split.
In his official statement, Pelling notes how the five years between 2020 and now allowed him the time and space to start a family and work on other projects, but that he “always missed what I had built with Loopmasters and Loopcloud”.
“Today’s technological landscape has only inspired me more. Working on multiple projects, I’ve been able to contrast making handcrafted musical instruments at Rhodes with modern AI-assisted software. It turns out there’s a commonality when it comes to creating music tools that stand the test of time.”
We caught up with Matt Pelling to get the lowdown on his acquisition of Loopmasters, and what we can expect from the company in the near future.
Do you have any big ideas you’d like to implement right away now you’re back in control of Loopmasters?
“It’s an exciting time for music producers and for everyone involved in the music software space. As a producer myself, I’ve been inspired by many of the latest tools and technologies emerging today. I’ve always embraced innovation – especially when it serves the producer rather than replaces them.
“We do have big ideas for the future, but it’s important we take the time to evaluate them properly – to make sure everything we do genuinely serves our customers and stands the test of time, rather than adding complexity for the sake of it.
“Ultimately, Loopcloud, powered by Loopmasters exists to provide fast access to inspiration at any stage of the creative journey. Any new ideas we pursue will always keep that purpose at the centre.”
Credit: Press
This is the first time Plugin Boutique and Loopmasters have split. How much does this change the business model of Loopmasters? 
“Loopmasters and Loopcloud have always operated largely independently from the team at Plugin Boutique, aside from a few shared people. With that in mind, we’re now a smaller company than we may have appeared while part of the wider Plugin Boutique and Beatport ecosystem – but in many ways, it feels very familiar. It reminds me of the early days when we first put our name on the map – those were incredibly exciting times. We remain close with our friends at Plugin Boutique.”
How do you see the landscape of online sample libraries changing over the next 5 or 10 years?
“Loopmasters has been around for nearly 25 years, and in that time we’ve seen huge shifts. We started out with CD-ROMs, moved into digital downloads and distribution, then into cloud-based sound libraries and subscription models. Now, of course, everyone is talking about AI and its growing influence on music creation.
“As musicians, we’re always evolving – just like the technology and business models that surround us. But at the core, our mission remains the same: to inspire with our music and to be inspired by the tools we use to make it.
“Loopmasters has always been in the inspiration business, and as long as there’s a need for that spark – for tools that help creators express themselves – I believe this industry will continue to thrive.”
Credit: Press
Does Loopmasters commit to only hosting human-made material, or will AI-created material also be available to purchase? 
“From the very beginning, Loopmasters has worked with a broad range of producers and musicians from around the world to provide our customers with the most diverse and authentic sounds possible. We’re proud to have built and nurtured these symbiotic relationships over nearly three decades.
“We can’t predict exactly where the future will take us, but for now, human-created content remains at the heart of what we do – and it’s where we continue to thrive. That human connection, creativity, and feel is something we’re very proud to stand behind.”
Will you remain in your position as Director at Rhodes Music Group? Will there be any crossover between these brands?
“Having a great team behind me at Rhodes, along with a fantastic and multi-skilled CFO in my friend and colleague Tim Dawson, gives me the freedom to stay involved with both companies for the foreseeable future.
“I hope there will be some natural synergies between the two brands as we move forward – anything is possible. For now, I divide my time between them as needed, focusing on where I can add the most value.
“Rhodes is a wonderful company to be part of, as is Loopmasters, and I feel very fortunate to have found what feels like the perfect balance – shaping strategies that will enrich the future of both in their own ways.”
Are there any learnings you’ve taken from your time as Rhodes Music Group Director that you’ll be able to apply as you reacquire Loopmasters?
“You should be proud of everything you create – only then do you truly earn the attention of others. Working with Rhodes also gave me a deeper appreciation for what it means to build a global brand that’s associated with warmth, positivity, and great music.
“The importance of brand and reputation is magnified at Rhodes, and as a custodian of that legacy, I’ve learned how essential it is to nurture it with respect – while acknowledging the community that helped build it in the first place.
“Providing great products always comes with both risks and rewards, but the common thread is music. That’s where the brand naturally belongs. The closer we stay to the music itself, the more authentic our brand – and our work – will feel.”
Check out Loopmasters.
The post Original Loopmasters founder Matt Pelling buys company back from Beatport: “Loopmasters has always been in the inspiration business” appeared first on MusicTech.

3 reasons Bitcoin struggles to overcome each new overhead resistance levelBitcoin’s momentum loss continues as long-term holders add to market selling pressure, and rising US dollar strength leads investors to reduce their exposure to risk.

Is Everybody Ready For The Next Band? The Rolling Stones 1969 US Tour Book By Richard Houghton  In November 1969 the Rolling Stones toured the United States for the first time in three years. Gone was founder member Brian Jones, replaced by Mick Taylor from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Gone too were the Top Ten-laden 30-minute sets played over inadequate PA systems to crowds of screaming, teenagers.

In their place was a fully-fledged 75-minute rock show drawing heavily on the albums Beggar’s Banquet and Let It Bleed, using lighting and theatrics rock audiences had never witnessed before. Terry Reid, B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner were the opening acts.

The Rolling Stones rocked across America with a tour whose essence is captured in the live album Get Yet Ya-Ya’s Out! heralded by many as the finest live rock album of all time.

Is Everybody Ready For The Next Band? - A People’s History Of the Rolling Stones 1969 US Tour byRichard Houghton mixes contemporaneous press reports with previously unpublished first-hand accounts of the Rolling Stones on their 24-date US tour that has gone down in history as the template that others then followed. From an un-publicized opening night in Fort Collins, Colorado through to the reported events at Altamont, California a month later, this is the story of one of the most infamous rock tours of all time in the words of more than 130 people who were there.    November 2025 marks the 56th anniversary of 1969’s Rolling Stones trek.  Is Everybody Ready For The Next Band? - A People’s History Of the Rolling Stones 1969 US Tour is scheduled for publication in November 2025 by Spenwood Books. 

The Rolling Stones’ November 1969 concerts at Madison Square Garden yielded the 1970 monumental Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! the band’s definitive live album.  It was produced by the Rolling Stones and Glyn Johns.

In my October 11, 1975 interview with Tina Turner in the now defunct Melody Maker, she reflected on the Rolling Stones and the 1969 United States expedition with them. 

“We toured for years with all the English groups and I always liked what they were singing about. The biggest change started happening when we were working around L.A. in 1966 and ran into Phil Spector,” she remembered. “He wanted to record me and when we cut 'River Deep, Mountain High.' Mick Jagger, who was visiting Phil at the time, was in the recording studio.

"After hearing the song, he wanted us to tour England in 1966 with the Rolling Stones. The English weren't used to seeing girls with high-heeled shows and I think they were shocked a bit,” Tina smiled at Chasen’s restaurant in Beverly Hills. 

“River Deep, Mountain High” also impressed Mick Jagger.

Turner in 1966 at Colston Hall in Bristol, England in a hallway corridor taught Jagger an interpretation of the sideways pony dance right in front of Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones, and Keith Richards.   

In our 1975 interview, Tina further reminisced, “After hearing the song he wanted us to tour England in 1966 with the Rolling Stones. The English weren't used to seeing girls with high-heeled shoes and I think they were shocked a bit.”

For B.B. King, his one-month November 1969 spot on the Stones shows was career altering. King’s "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss” was a top 10 R&B hit in 1968 and popular in L.A. I heard it regularly on KGFJ-AM.  Then he got booked on the Stones’ 1969 dates. 

On November 8th in ‘69 at the Forum in Inglewood California B.B. was now playing in front of more paying folks, music reviewers, rack jobbers, and both AM and FM radio deejays in those arenas then he had ever reached before. It was evident King knew his next half century calendar dates were taken care of. 

I had already seen both B.B. King and the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in Watts and around Hollywood as a teenager. B.B. resided in our neighborhood when my family lived in Crenshaw Village. There he was playing on stage with the Rolling Stones in nearby Inglewood! Followed by Ike & Tina who resided locally in the Baldwin Hills View Park area, close to the Forum.

“The Stones were a better live band then any other band at that time,” explained Bill Wyman, bass player of the Rolling Stones in a 2004 interview we conducted.

“The band was great live always.  I’m not saying they were the greatest songwriters or the greatest recording artists, but they were the best live band wherever you went. You could go up on stage and blow everybody away no matter who they were.”

What did Wyman think contributed to the live concert dynamic of the Rolling Stones, besides the obvious chemistry the group members had together?  

“Practice. Doin’ them little clubs in the beginning,” he emphasized. “Going through all of that learning process, that apprenticeship. Starting off not thinking about being rich and famous and having a career and making a record or going on TV or touring America. Or going out in a limousine like kids think now when they go into a band. None of that. It was let’s play this music and if people like it, that’s a bonus. And if we got a bit of change in our pockets, that was a bigger bonus. And it was that simple.

“I always thought…As long as me and Charlie could get it together, then the rest of the band could do what they’d like and it worked. And that’s what happened in the studio, and that’s what happened live. Me and Charlie were really always on the ball, always straight, always together and had it down.

“If we had our shit together, we got it right. What he was doing and what I was doing, standing next to him and watching his bass drum, and all that, which a lot of bass players don’t do, stupidly, once we got our thing going, and the group was there, then anything could happen. That’s all there was. There was simplicity. It wasn’t how many notes you played, it’s where you left nice holes and I learned that from Duck Dunn and people like that,” remarked Wyman in our conversation.

“Once you’re on the stage it’s just some floor boards in spite of it,” detailed Keith Richards in a 1999 Rolling Stones pre-show interview with me discussing his band in concert setting.

“And you’re not really aware of everything you are seeing. In a way, maybe when you write songs without even knowing it, you’re kinda saying, ‘Can I do this live?’  And so, in a way you add that in.  You don’t know if it’s gonna work, but I guess you keep in the back of your mind is ‘We’re making a record here.’  What happens if they all like it and we gotta play it live?  So, in a way, that maybe in the back of the mind it sets up the song to be playable on stage.”

Before the Stones embarked on their 1969 tour there was work to do for an album called Let It Bleed and preparations for the landmark undertaking. 

They Stones arrived in Los Angeles on October 17. They formally rehearsed in Burbank at the Warner Bros. soundstage recently used for the movie They Shoot Horses Don’t They. They also practiced material around Stephen Stills’ Studio City Laurel Canyon area home, formerly owned by actor Wally Cox and before him, the noted Hollywood Bowl Orchestra conductor Carmen Dragon and his musical family.

On November 8th I saw two concerts from the band at The Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, Ca. as they launched their 1969 US tour. The 11:30 pm-5:30 am experience debuted selections from Let It Bleed. That’s when I heard the Mick Jagger/Keith Richards composition and ABKCO copyright “Gimme Shelter” for the first time…

I remember when KMET-FM in Los Angeles first spun “Gimme Shelter” from an acetate they acquired just before Let it Bleed shipped to retail outlets. I was stunned.

Photographer and writer Heather Harris described the song as “an anthem of dread.” It fit the mood of many young people just then, a time of social and political unrest.

While in the Southland in 1969, and rehearsing for their tour, there was a press conference touting the Stones upcoming US trek at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. The Rolling Stones returned, to the United States for their first tour in more than three years and camped in Southern California. In July 1966 radio station KHJ sponsored their concert at The Hollywood Bowl.

During their stay in L.A., Mick Taylor could be seen around town shopping for blues LP’s at Flash Records. Keith Richards was looking for clothes and albums. Record producer Denny Bruce took Keith over to Ed Pearl’s Ash Grove music club on Melrose Avenue. They had a record section run by Chris Peake. Keith forked out some big bucks for a rare 1965 The Cool Sounds of Albert Collins album. Denny Bruce managed Collins. 

Keith and Mick had gone to the Ash Grove to see Taj Mahal and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup. They sat right in front of myself and Peter Piper behind a roped off area.  They also visited Thee Experience club on Sunset Boulevard operated by Marshall Brevetz. One night Bo Diddley was the headliner October 29th-November 2nd before the Stones embarked on their ’69 tour. Mick and Keith jammed with Bo on “Mona,” and were at Thee Experience to see Albert Collins.             

In November 1969, the Rolling Stones taped three song performances for The Ed Sullivan Show in Los Angeles at CBS Television City. Little Richard, clad in a green suit, was an audience member. In 1963 the Stones were an opening act for his UK tour. The Stones did “Love in Vain,” “Gimme Shelter” and “Honky Tonk Women.” Ella Fitzgerald was also on the program which delighted Charlie Watts.  During 1969, the Stones filmed some promotional spots for The Music Scene TV show that were lensed at the ABC Television Center in Hollywood but never broadcast.

The Stones tour began on November 7th in Ft. Collins Colorado and moved to California for two shows. The tour's second stop, in Inglewood at Southern California’s The (Fabulous) Forum, has achieved mythic status.

In arranging this Forum date, a previously set hockey match between the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers was rescheduled -- at the request of owner Jack Kent Cooke who owned both the Forum venue and the Kings team.   The lengthy change over at the facility caused massive delays. The first scheduled show began very late in the evening with Terry Reid opening.  The second show didn’t get started until after 2:00 a.m. Due to time constraints, Terry Reid didn’t play the nightcap. 

After the Rolling Stones 1969 tour conclusion, the band had organized one more booking on Saturday, December 6th, for a free show that featured the Flying Burrito Brothers, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and Grateful Dead (who chose not to perform) in a free thank you concert acknowledging their successful 1969 US tour that has always been reported as the disastrous Altamont free concert. 

And contrary to popular belief, many people who went to Altamont that afternoon and evening had a good time and left with a sense of wonder and delight.

Take into consideration actor/poet Harry E. Northup, who was at this infamous gig.

The Stones played "Brown Sugar" live on that stage for the first time during the Altamont appearance.  

Northup has made a living as an actor for over 30 yeas, acting in 37 films, including Mean Streets, Over the Edge (starring role), Taxi Driver & The Silence of the Lambs. Northup is that rare American actor who is also an accomplished poet with 9 books of poetry published.

“I was working in Hollywood as a waiter at the Old World Restaurant on the Sunset Strip,” emailed Harry.

“My first wife, Rita, & I had arrived in Los Angeles, from New York City on March 5, 1968. That day we got an apartment in Santa Monica & that night. I got a job as a waiter at the Old World. I came to L.A. to work in the movies. I worked at night & auditioned for movie & TV roles in the day. We hung out at the beach & went to every rock 'n roll concert that we could at the Santa Monica Civic, Palladium & Venice Beach.   

“Rita & I and our 10-month-old son, Dylan, drove to San Francisco, Ca., on the 5th day of December, 1969, in our blue & white Volkswagen van. It had a bed in the back. We slept in it in the Haight. The morning of the 6th, we ate at Brother Juniper's -- I remember seeing a black man, sitting next to us, with a cross cut into the top of his head -- & then we drove to Altamont. It was slow going when we got near the Speedway. We parked on the side of the road & walked a long way. We took turns carrying Dylan.

“At the concert, we met 5 long-haired surfer guys & 3 girls we knew from Santa Monica. It was a gray day. It seemed like half a million people were there.  We had driven up Pacific Coast Highway many times from Santa Monica to see the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, & the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, among others, in Golden Gate Park & other venues, but had never been at a gathering this large.

“Most of the time, we stayed on the perimeter & danced. My wife loved the Stones. She pranced & pointed & sang like Mick. She had seen the Beatles at Shea Stadium years before. (Harvey Keitel, who was my fellow student in Frank Corsaro's Method acting class in Manhattan, had introduced her to me at the one party that I had given in New York City in the five years that I lived there, from 1963-1968. He also introduced me to Martin Scorsese, who hired me to play The Rapist in his first feature, Who's That Knocking At My Door in 1968. Marty hired me to act in his first six features & first TV show. Bette Midler, by the way, sang Bob Dylan's ‘A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall’ at that same party.)

“We shared joints, people gave us food: fruit, juices, sandwiches. Our surfer friends danced, held Dylan. Once, I snaked my way down to the left side of the stage just as the Rolling Stones sang, ‘Jumpin' Jack Flash.’ It was electric. I saw a young woman, who kept trying to climb up onto the stage, & at each attempt, a Hells Angel, who wore a wolf's head kicked her in the face. She must have been a masochist, because she kept going back for more. I headed back to our group. We danced & had a wonderful time. The Stones & Santana were tremendous. We felt renewed.

“It was a long slow journey back to our VW. It wasn't until we were driving south on the 5 Freeway that we heard, on the radio, about the killing at Altamont. “In 1970, I saw Gimme Shelter, by the Mayles Brothers, which showed the violence in all its vividness. In 1973, I played the Vietnam vet who destroys his own homecoming in Scorsese's first masterpiece, Mean Streets. Scorsese utilized ‘Jumpin' Jack Flash’ on the soundtrack for Johnny Boy's (Robert De Niro) entrance into the bar.”

Gimme Shelter (1970), directed by David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, documented the Stones’ 1969 American tour and took its title from the song. A version of “Gimme Shelter” played over the closing credits.

“In Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! we have actual audio (and, with the Maysles Brothers' footage, video) documentation for the ages of Rock and Roll becoming Rock, and more crucially the Sixties becoming the Seventies,” writer Gary Pig Gold injects.

“A popular musician's goal could no longer simply be to write and record the perfect three-minute hit. You now had to be able to perform it on stage, along with at least an hour's worth of additional material, in front of attentive, ever-growing arena-sized crowds. No longer could you rely solely on a record producer's control-board tricks, or an arrangement that need only be completely executed once across the nearest four tracks.

“The Rolling Stones, along with scant few other fellow British Invaders, had no problem bridging those decades and environments: They always were a band who made recordings of performances in the studio, and could easily replicate them -- and, as Ya-Ya's amply demonstrates, often ENHANCE them -- on the concert stage.

“That is key to the band's success, not to mention longevity, and with Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! we can ear-witness the Rolling Stones totally maturing from England's Newest Hit Makers into The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band.”

(Harvey Kubernik is the author of 20 books, including 2009’s Canyon Of Dreams: The Magic And The Music Of Laurel Canyon, 2014’s Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll In Los Angeles 1956-1972, 2015's Every Body Knows: Leonard Cohen, 2016's Heart of Gold Neil Young and 2017's 1967: A Complete Rock Music History of the Summer of Love. Sterling/Barnes and Noble in 2018 published Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik’s The Story Of The Band: From Big Pink To The Last Waltz. In 2021 the duo wrote Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child for Sterling/Barnes and Noble. 

Otherworld Cottage Industries in 2020 published Harvey’s Docs That Rock, Music That Matters. His Screen Gems: (Pop Music Documentaries and Rock ‘n’ Roll TV Scenes) is scheduled for December 2025 publication. Harvey wrote the liner notes to CD re-releases of Carole King’s Tapestry, The Essential Carole King, Allen Ginsberg’s Kaddish, Elvis Presley The ’68 Comeback Special, The Ramones’ End of the Century and Big Brother & the Holding Company Captured Live at The Monterey International Pop Festival.

During 2006 Kubernik appeared at the special hearings by The Library of Congress in Hollywood, California, discussing archiving practices and audiotape preservation. In 2017 he lectured at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, in their Distinguished Speakers Series. Amidst 2023, Harvey spoke at The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles discussing director Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz music documentary.

Kubernik is in a documentary, The Sound of Protest now airing on the Apple TVOD TV broadcasting service. https://tv.apple.com › us › movie › the-sound-of-protest. Director Siobhan Logue’s endeavor features Smokey Robinson, Hozier, Skin (Skunk Anansie), Two-Tone's Jerry Dammers, Angélique Kidjo, Holly Johnson, David McAlmont, Rhiannon Giddens, and more.

Harvey is interviewed along with Iggy Pop, Bruce Johnston, Johnny Echols, the Bangles' Susanna Hoffs and Victoria Peterson, and the founding members of the Seeds in director Neil Norman’s documentary The Seeds - The Seeds: Pushin' Too Hard now streaming on Vimeo. In November 2025, a DVD/Blu-ray with bonus footage of the documentary will be released via the GNP Crescendo Company.

The New York City Department of Education in 2025 published the social studies textbook Hidden Voices: Jewish Americans in United States History. Kubernik’s 1976 interview with music promoter Bill Graham on the Best Classic Bands website Bill Graham Interview on the Rock ’n’ Roll Revolution, 1976, is included). The post Is Everybody Ready For The Next Band? The Rolling Stones 1969 US Tour Book By Richard Houghton   first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

2025 Component Abuse Challenge: Light an LED With NothingShould you spend some time around the less scientifically informed parts of the internet, it’s easy to find “Free power” stories. Usually they’re some form of perpetual motion machine flying in the face of the laws of conservation of energy, but that’s not to say that there is no free power.
The power just has to come from somewhere, and if you’re not paying for it there’s the bonus. [joekutz] has just such a project, lighting up LEDs with no power source or other active electronics.
Of course, he’s not discovered perpetual motion. Rather, while an LED normally requires a bit of current to light up properly, it seems many will produce a tiny amount of light on almost nothing. Ambient electromagnetic fields are enough, and it’s this effect that’s under investigation. Using a phone camera and a magnifier as a light detector he’s able to observe the feeble glow as the device is exposed to ambient fields.
In effect this is using the LED as the very simplest form of radio receiver, a crystal set with no headphone and only the leads, some wires, and high value resistors as an antenna. The LED is after all a diode, and it can thus perform as a rectifier. We like the demonstration even if we can’t quite see an application for it.
While we’re no longer taking new entries for the 2025 Component Abuse Challenge, we’ve still got plenty of creative hacks from the competition to show off. We’re currently tabulating the votes, and will announce the winners of this particularly lively challenge soon.

Electro-Harmonix Pico Atomic Cluster Pico Atomic Cluster | Spectral Decomposer The Electro-Harmonix Pico Atomic Cluster Spectral Decomposer is a powerful and highly specialized digital effects pedal that provides musicians and sound designers with an innovative tool for deep sonic transformation. Housed in the compact, pedalboard-friendly Pico chassis, this device employs a unique algorithm to deconstruct an instrument's tone to an atomic level, deliberately reducing the frequency resolution of the incoming signal. Unlike conventional modulation or time-based effects, the Atomic Cluster generates a series of resonant oscillations directly related to the input source, interpolating the sound into a variety of compelling musical and whimsical textures. The result is a diverse range of effects, spanning from rhythmic, lo-fi glitch and structured auto-arpeggio patterns to expansive, ambient synth pads. The core of the pedal's functionality is managed through two key controls: ATOMS and SPEED. The ATOMS knob governs the quantity of simultaneous resonant oscillations that are produced, essentially controlling the spectral density and "pixelation" of the effect. By reducing the ATOMS setting, the pedal moves from a full spectrum close to the original instrument sound toward a more reduced, glitched, and rhythmically fragmented output. The SPEED knob adjusts the refresh rate of the underlying oscillation algorithm, determining the temporal character of the decomposition. Slower speeds can create a stepped, rhythmic step-filter sound, while faster settings allow for more volatile, chaotic, and randomized effects. For musicians who require exact rhythmic integration, the SPEED parameter can be quickly set via tap-tempo, making it an effective tool for both studio and live performance applications. Adding further flexibility to the sonic sculpting is the MODE button, which allows the user to select the transition envelope shape between the resonant oscillations. The SHARP mode provides an instant, immediate transition that is ideal for generating distinct, percussive, and rhythmic results. Conversely, the SMOOTH mode utilizes a gradual, faded envelope, resulting in a more lush, ambient, and seamlessly transitioned effect, particularly suitable for creating deep, sustained atmospheric washes. Comprehensive control is maintained through the VOL knob for output leveling and the BLEND knob, which offers a full sweep from 100% dry to 100% wet, enabling precise mixing of the effect with the original instrument tone. The Pico Atomic Cluster is a testament to Electro-Harmonix's commitment to pushing creative boundaries, offering guitarists and synth players a miniature machine capable of vast sound design. Features Spectral Decomposition Engine: Utilizes a unique digital algorithm to reduce the frequency resolution of the input signal, transforming it into resonant oscillations. Dual-Mode Operation: Features a MODE button to toggle between SHARP (instant) and SMOOTH (faded/ambient) oscillation transition envelopes. ATOMS Control: Sets the number of simultaneous resonant oscillations, ranging from full-spectrum to highly pixelated and glitchy sounds. SPEED Control with Tap-Tempo: Adjusts the rate at which the algorithm refreshes oscillations, controlling the rhythm and timing of the effect. This rate can be set via a dedicated tap-tempo function. Sonic Versatility: Capable of producing rhythmic lo-fi glitch, auto-arpeggio effects, and ambient, synth-like pads. Blend Control: A dedicated BLEND knob allows for precise mixing of the wet effect and the dry instrument signal. Buffered Bypass: Maintains signal integrity when the effect is bypassed. Pico Chassis: Housed in a compact, miniaturized enclosure designed to save pedalboard space. Power: Ships with a 9.6VDC-200mA power adapter included. https://youtu.be/gOnA-Bh0NO4?si=sCys7hvXLZQVsWLX Read More

Grammy winner MixedByAli launches ‘EngineEars Direct’ music distribution platformService is powered by EMPIRE's white label distribution platform, Supply Chain
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Cybersecurity firm Deepwatch lays off dozens, citing move to ‘accelerate’ AI investmentDeepwatch’s CEO told TechCrunch that the layoffs allow the company to accelerate investments in “AI and automation.”

What is cool jazz? Artists, history, and characteristics
Learn about the rich history of cool jazz, its key characteristics, artists, landmark records, signature instruments, and more.

HEDDphone D1 from HEDD Audio HEDD Audio’s new HEDDphone D1 employ dynamic drivers rather than the AMT design featured in the HEDDphone TWO, but still manage to claim another world’s first thanks to the use of Thin-Ply Carbon Diaphragm (TPCD) technology.

You can now access Tracklib samples directly from your DAW thanks to its new free pluginTracklib has launched a new plugin called Connect, which integrates its full catalogue of music right into your DAW.
The launch follows on from Tracklib’s mobile app and desktop app, and it’s completely free to install if you already use Tracklib.  Connect also requires no dragging or dropping, and your chosen samples are instantly matched to your project for an in-context preview. You can adjust pitch or playback speed on the fly.

READ MORE: “Next-gen ZEN”: Roland unveils ZENOLOGY GX – the latest evolution of its ZEN-Core synth system for DAWs

The plugin is available in AU and VST3 formats, so it’s compatible with all major DAWs including Ableton, FL Studio, and Logic Pro X. All Tracklib subscribers can install it at no additional cost from the Tracklib Desktop App on both macOS and Windows.
Andreas Ahlenius, CEO of Tracklib, says: “Tracklib started as an online store for sampling. But with the recent launches of Sounds, our desktop app, mobile app, and now Tracklib Connect, we’re quickly becoming a complete ecosystem for music producers. Our goal is to support producers at every step of the creative process, from inspiration to finished track.”

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Tracklib has been continually expanding since it became available to the public in 2018. Back in 2021, Tracklib announced that it had secured $12.2 million in funding from existing investors, including Sony Innovation Fund and WndrCo, as well as from several new investors.
Its library features over 100,000 vintage songs from 400 labels, spanning artists and genres from Mozart to Isaac Hayes, along with 350,000 royalty-free one-shots and loops. It has been used across hits from Drake, Kaytranada, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar.
In other freebie news, Spitfire Audio has also just launched its “largest free sample library” yet. Spitfire Symphony Orchestra Discover (SSO Discover) is essentially a lite, free-to-use version of the brand’s best-selling Spitfire Symphony Orchestra, recorded at AIR Lyndhurst Studios in London.
To find out more about Connect, head over to Tracklib.
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Epidemic Sound Studio is an AI-powered tool that can soundtrack your videos instantlyWhat if there was a tool which could harness AI to create the perfect soundtrack to your video in seconds, thus saving you hours in the process? Now there is.
Epidemic Sound’s new AI-powered tool, Studio, delivers a first draft of a cohesive soundtrack – complete with both music and sound effects – for your videos, which can then be used as is, or taken for inspiration and refined.

READ MORE: ChatGPT ordered to pay undisclosed damages for violating German copyright laws

Studio uses music from Epidemic’s pool of artists, as well as “Hollywood-grade” ambient noises and foley sound effects, which can subsequently be uploaded to your video editing application of choice.
But how exactly does it work? As Epidemic explains, Studio uses AI and data insights, “informed by contextual patterns” from over three billion daily plays across online platforms, to analyse uploaded content and deliver a “cohesive, legally safe soundtrack seamlessly synced to the visuals”. It also presents alternative music and sound effect options, too.
“We know that soundtracking even a short, one- to three-minute video can take creators up to five hours, which often means sound effects are overlooked,” says Epidemic Sound Chief Product Officer Sam Hall. 
“Studio eliminates this time barrier, enabling creators to harness the full potential of audio to elevate the quality of their content and focus on truly bringing their vision to life. And this is just the beginning; Studio lays the foundation for an intelligent, unified soundtracking hub built on Epidemic Sound’s clean AI music models designed to champion and enhance human creativity.” 

“We believe AI should empower, not replace, human creativity,” adds CEO Oscar Höglund. “Studio embodies that belief, giving creators more time and freedom to focus on their stories while continuing to help artists reach an audience and earn from their craft. 
“Studio is another significant step toward our vision of a world where AI and human artistry work hand-in-hand, unlocking new ways to create, collaborate, and connect people through storytelling.”
Creators are already using Epidemic Sound Studio, too, like YouTuber and videographer Matt Yutoshi, who agrees that a soundtrack can “make or break a video”, but that “getting it right takes so much time”.
Studio now becomes the core Epidemic Sound interface, combining tooling, inspiration and sound design into one seamless soundtrack hub, “while ensuring artists are compensated and their work is distributed through creator content”.
It follows the launch of Epidemic’s soundtracking Assistant and its music adaptation tool, Adapt, which expanded artist remuneration through an additional bonus pool.
Learn more at Epidemic Sound.
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AI Detection and Fan-Sourced Feedback: Is Coda Music Streaming’s Savior?Coda Music is a new streaming app offering a human-first platform, ensuring users can enjoy genuine music without AI interference.
The post AI Detection and Fan-Sourced Feedback: Is Coda Music Streaming’s Savior? appeared first on Hypebot.

Is a Song Just a “Data Object?” (Hint: No)An OpEd by Ian Temple of Soundfly about the way we interact with songs as code-based entries in a data library, and what a "song" really could be?
The post Is a Song Just a “Data Object?” (Hint: No) appeared first on Hypebot.

MXGPU: “Saying you can only achieve great-sounding recordings with $10,000 worth of gear is just gatekeeping”Based in Portugal, MXGPU comprises electronic artists Moullinex and GPU Panic, whose 360° “in the round” stage setup has already seen them play shows at Primavera Porto, NOS Alive, Wonderfruit (Thailand), and sold-out Lisbon pop-ups at MAAT and Casa da Música.
While Moullinex is known for his remix of Cut Copy’s Lights & Music, a Beatport no.1 and four solo albums via his label Discotexas, GPU Panic, a Red Bull Music Academy alum, has released on Crosstown Rebels, TAU, and Watergate.
Their debut album Sudden Light came out in September and sonically blends liquid D‘n’B, bright staccato synths, and vocal-driven pop, described as somewhere in between Caribou and Porter Robinson.
Taking an innovative approach to live performance, the duo blend computers, synths, software and modular gear in a specialised rig that incorporates improvisation, live processing of sounds, evolving sequences and much more.

We catch up with them to get their thoughts on their dream synths, how they stay creative and whether analogue really does sound better than digital.
Hi Moullinex and GPU Panic! How did you two end up working together?
We began working together in 2016 when GPU Panic joined Moullinex Live to play guitar on tour. From there, we started making music in the studio, and it just felt natural. We kept collaborating and working live, and here we are today.
Your album, Sudden Light, combines countless influences, including the Chemical Brothers, Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso. What was a lesson you learned about music-making while creating this album?
The main lesson is that you need to create a lot. There’s always something to try. Don’t judge, have fun and try to find a process you enjoy. Keep things moving, switch between different projects or ideas so you don’t leave a studio session dreading the 10 hours you’ve just spent on a kick drum. If you spread these 10 hours over your entire month, it will hurt less.
Working as a duo is great because sometimes we have to be deliberate about why we do things. Sometimes that helps us decide between ideas or directions. Sometimes the best thing is not to talk at all and just to try.
Image: Ana Viotti
MXGPU’s live show is focused on “high-spec live performance, hardware integration and analogue expression”. Can you tell us more about this?
We wanted to create an immersive experience where we could feel what the audience feels during the show. We are on the dancefloor, in the round, surrounded by the audience who are so close that they can see all the gear and how we are playing. We wanted to bring proximity to our show, avoiding those high and distant stages where a bit of the humanity of live shows is lost.
Tell us a bit about your studio workflows and how you combined them both for MXGPU.
We love gear, but we also love just doing everything on a laptop. The way to achieve what we want ultimately is secondary, but we let ourselves be completely inspired by the methods that a specific piece of gear, plugin or tool gives us. We love to sample our own recordings, to flip things, reverse, change the pitch, the speed, the context. We use a lot of distortion and saturation. We also love to create layers of texture with field recordings and sometimes gate them with percussive sounds to create movement.
Image: Ana Viotti
Our openness to invite the other person to completely flip a musical idea from the other is also very inspiring. You need to let go of your creations! It’s a continuous process where we just keep adding musical ideas and projects to a folder where everything is always ready for the other to jump in.
Your live rig is designed around a blend of analogue and digital gear, real-time improvisation and sequenced modular control. How does this all fit together?
We have a two-sided triangular-shaped stand, and we are facing each other. Each side has some cool gear to make things immediate and very hands-on.
Moullinex’s side has an Ableton session that is the brain of it all. There, we run MIDI sequences, audio tracks to process different instruments and vocals live. It’s all connected via the Tascam Model12, where all the instruments plug in: Moog Minitaur for all the bass, Arturia MiniFreak for poly, Torso S4 for weirdness, Queen of Pentacles by Endorphine.es for live drums, Nyx and Telepathy by Dreadbox for synth voices. Then the entire show is processed by the Eurorack system for a little mastering.
You have the Arturia MiniFreak and KeyStep Pro at the heart of your rig – what is it that makes them so well-suited to the way you perform?
We are very considerate of the size and weight of what makes up our live setup. It all needs to fit into three suitcases, including the stand. The Arturia MiniFreak is a beast for the size and price — such a versatile synth where we can recreate all the sounds that we need from the record, and it also integrates perfectly with the plugin version.
KeyStep Pro is an amazing MIDI and CV powerhouse. It’s very helpful since it’s configured in a way where all the synths are accessible and playable from the hardware. It’s also great for creating some improvised sequences on the fly.
Image: Ana Viotti
Do you plan to keep the collaborative project going into the future? How do you see the live show evolving, and what are your plans for its direction?
Yeah, sure! We’re already jumping on new music and dreaming about how to make the live show evolve and keep it surprising, and remain a great experience for the dancefloor. There’s so much to be done and so many places we want to visit. It’s an ongoing daydreaming process.
What’s been the biggest investment in the MXGPU collaboration?
Probably renting a 40-year-old crane and doing a floating show at dawn in the river in Lisbon.
Do you have a dream piece of gear?
The almighty CS80, first popularised by Vangelis, Stevie Wonder, and so many more. Besides sounding great, it looks great too. Its bigger sibling, the GX1, would complement any living room that had enough space to fit it.
Image: Ana Viotti
What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
That analogue sounds better. We think analogue might sound better in some instances, but it really depends on the person engineering. Honestly, saying you can only achieve great-sounding recordings with some $10,000 piece of gear is just gatekeeping. It’s the same with vinyl-only DJs. Your record collection is only as good as your taste..
Who gave you the biggest lesson in your career?
One day, an industry veteran who shall remain nameless entered my studio and said, “Wow, that’s a lot of chords”. That stuck with us; sometimes we see it as a compliment, so we are more detailed than minimalistic. Some other days we strive to use the Occam’s razor principle when producing: that the best solution is probably the simplest one.
 
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