Softube and Weiss collaborate on Weiss Exciter Designed for professional mix and mastering engineers, Weiss Exciter uses a proprietary algorithm developed in collaboration between the two companies.

JMG Sound releases HyperspaceCore, a FREE version of their flagship reverb plugin
HyperspaceCore originates from JMG Sound’s flagship reverb plugin, Hyperspace, and serves as a successor to the discontinued Hyperspace CM (Computer Magazine Edition). Hyperspace has been around for years now, but a free version will be welcome news to anyone put off by the hefty price tag. Hyperspace developed a reputation as a reverb plugin that [...]
View post: JMG Sound releases HyperspaceCore, a FREE version of their flagship reverb plugin

“It’s better to be friends with the robots,” OSMIUM on jamming with robots for their debut albumOSMIUM stretches the concept of a band to its furthest limits. They fit the traditional description of a small group of artists creating music together under one name — but nothing else about this collaboration is at all conventional.
Three of the four members — the lauded experimental musicians Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sam Slater, and James Ginzburg — built their own instruments for the ambient project. Slater crafted a self-oscillating drum with a feedback system developed with the Berlin-based instrument manufacturer, KOMA Elektronik. Ginzburg designed an apparatus that expands upon an ancient stringed instrument called the monochord. Guðnadóttir uses the Halldorophone, which combines her primary instrument of cello with an attachment that catalyses feedback from the strings and outputs it into a new sound.

READ MORE: Moby at Cercle Odyssey: The closest I ever came to floating through space

The band’s vocalist, Rully Shabara, is being studied by an Indonesian university because he can make sounds with his voice that humans aren’t supposed to be able to make.
Last, but not at all least, there is a fifth member of the band: a set of robotic beaters playing the custom instruments through automation.
Osmium live. Image: Lawrence Sumolong
“You’ve got a mechanically sequenced band. If we step away from our instruments, they’re just going to sit there and play,” Slater says. “A conversation that we’ve kind of jokingly had is that it’s better to be friends with the robots.”
Through their individually impressive careers, the members of OSMIUM have certainly befriended technology. Ginzburg is a member of the multiplatform art project Emptyset and the boss of the electronic label Subtext Recordings. Slater and Guðnadóttir, as husband and wife, have created experimental synthetic music for various projects, including video games such as Battlefield 2042 and television programs such as Chernobyl.
OSMIUM is the next phase of their experimental journey, and the latest instance of being surprised by music.
“You could actually make a project entirely based on a ‘What if’?’” Slater says.
“It’s always really exciting when you stumble upon a new process, or even a new set of sonic relationships that create something unexpected,” Ginzburg adds. “Obviously, as time goes on, it becomes more challenging to be surprised by music and sound. But that doesn’t stop us from having that spirit of exploration. Creating situations where unexpected things can happen is the primary interest in approaching projects like this.”
Osmium live. Image: Lawrence Sumolong
That situation is built around OSMIUM’s robotic counterpart. Slater and Guðnadóttir had experimented with automated mechanical beaters in previous works. For OSMIUM, they refined the process with the other members, using the patterns to create the traditional idea of a piece of music. The way the beaters engage with the instruments is consistent for every performance because Ginzburg, Slater, and the other members program the sequences in advance.
As this robotic framework performs the pieces, all of the instrumentalists engage with their instruments individually to expand upon the piece. They create a conversation within their own mechanical sequences and with each other, almost like a jam. Then, Shabara contributes his intriguing and almost inhuman vocal tones.
“You can play counter rhythms or you can not play at all. Each one of those ways of agitating the strings creates a different outcome as it interacts,” Ginzburg says. His reimagined monochord is a stringed instrument, and so he has the option to play with bows or his beaters. “I can bow while it hammers. If I hit something, and then the hammer hits it, that mutes what I just hit. So you get very, very strange interactions happening.”
Osmium live. Image: Lawrence Sumolong
“Honestly, there are points where I can’t really add anything,” Slater continues. “As musicians, we come along and join in. We try and affect what’s going on. We alter the dialogue, we add counter rhythms. We might play along the same rhythm as the machine and enjoy the fact that humans are just shitter than the mechanized thing.”
The result of this amalgamation of musical conversations is a mass of clanging, scratching, rhythmic noises and enduring ominous tones. When listening to a recording, it’s unclear at any point which member is making any particular sound. Each instrument is generating its own sonics while also creating feedback at various frequencies. According to Slater, audience members have come close to vomiting during OSMIUM performances because of resonant feedback at low frequencies around 30 Hz.
Osmium live. Image: Lawrence Sumolong
“In this whole project, there are two quite strong variables. One is the ability to deal with chaos. We have live feedback from instrument to instrument going on, and the only thing that is guaranteed is the hammers are going to come down at the same time,” Slater says. “You have a really rigid structure on one side, and you have chaos on the other side. You have to be quite a specific kind of musician to enjoy that process.”
When it was time to record their debut, self-titled album, they used the same specific process. Slater, Ginzburg, and Guðnadóttir visited a studio called Bunello in Berlin and set up their instruments to track live, capturing the musical conversations in the moment. Each instrument has its own direct input, and they also populated the space with room mics to balance the individual sounds with the combined sounds.
They set aside three days for recording, but, unfortunately, Guðnadóttir’s Haldorophone “blew up” on the first day. With the time it took to get hold of a new one, they ended up only having one full day for instrumental tracking.
Shabara was in Indonesia during this session, so Ginzburg recorded him at a later date in his home studio. Ginzburg used multiple mics, distortion chains, and “exotic” compression in processing. To maintain the conversational dynamic of the group, Ginzburg set up multiple reverb returns that he would adjust while Shabara was vocalising. Essentially, he was performing the mix in response to Shabara’s foreboding noises.
Image: Press
“It was very intense because when he gets into it, he goes somewhere else,” Ginzburg says of Shabara. “I followed him, and then you sort of snap out of it and you’re like, ‘Oh, I guess we should go eat some noodles or something.’”
To finish off the recordings, they edited down the raw takes into listenable sections and implemented automation to let different sounds move through the background and foreground. For the final, granular mixing process, they approached it similarly to how Ginzburg recorded Shabara: adjusting parallel processing in the moment to perform the mix.
“Everything can have some kind of organic interactions imprinted on them ex post facto,” Ginzburg says.
“Organic” is an interesting word given the highly mechanical nature of OSMIUM. But these four experimentalists prove that no matter how advanced or idiosyncratic technology becomes, humans can harness it into something new and exciting.
The post “It’s better to be friends with the robots,” OSMIUM on jamming with robots for their debut album appeared first on MusicTech.

Get BFD3.5 Acoustic Drum Plugin for only $35.10 + Free Zynaptiq Orange Vocoder Nano
BFD3.5 is currently available for just $39 on Audio Deluxe, which is a whopping 80% off its regular price of $160. But it gets even better. Yes, $39 for BFD3.5 is already a great deal, but you can use the coupon code SUMMER10 at checkout to shave off another 10%, bringing the final price down [...]
View post: Get BFD3.5 Acoustic Drum Plugin for only $35.10 + Free Zynaptiq Orange Vocoder Nano

PreSonus launches Studio One Pro 7.2, with a new sub bass instrument and transcription features geared towards guitarists – here’s everything you need to knowPreSonus has introduced the latest version of its DAW, Studio One Pro. Version 7.2 includes a variety of new features, including virtual instruments, tuners, transcription tools, and more.
“Recording is gaining more popularity than ever – especially with guitarists,” says Arnd Kaiser, General Manager of Software at PreSonus. “Studio One Pro 7’s latest update offers powerful tools for guitarists and music creators of all types. Our goal with this and future updates is to continue improving our DAW while giving our community the tools they need to feel inspired.”

READ MORE: HEDD Audio’s Type 05 A-Core monitors are practically perfect

PreSonus is owned by Fender, so many of the new updates are geared towards guitar players, the company says. Incidentally, Fender also recently launched Fender Studio, an a new app-based DAW that we dubbed “the closest thing to Studio One in your pocket”.
First up among the new additions in Studio One Pro 7.2 is a new virtual instrument, Sub Zero Bass, which opens possibilities for all manner of low-end creativity including synth basses, bass guitars, bass textures and more. The instrument was designed by the established film scoring team, The Solos.

Studio One Pro 7.2 also features an updated tuner – Tuner² – which now has over 30 presets for guitar with the ability to save both open and custom tunings. Whichever tuning you prefer, just save it in there, click a button and start tuning up.
7.2 also now features the Nashville Number System, a method of transcribing music which denotes the scale degree on which a chord is built, designed to simplify and speed up any transcription you do within Studio One Pro.
Additionally, users can now use a footswitch to punch in and out manually or use Auto Punch – now with the ability to use adjustable Post-roll, Pre-roll and Auto Punch in any combination.
A feature which PreSonus says has been widely requested by users and now added in Studio One Pro 7.2 are continuous cursor options, which mean the play cursor can now be fixed either to the centre or the left-hand side of an arrangement, with Parts and Events scrolling continuously underneath.
Studio One Pro 7 came out back in October, which added Splice integration and AI-powered stem separation among many other add-ons.
Studio One Pro 7 is priced at £118.99 for new users, with existing users able to update to 7.2 for free.
Head to PreSonus to check out the full range of new updates in Studio One Pro 7.2.
The post PreSonus launches Studio One Pro 7.2, with a new sub bass instrument and transcription features geared towards guitarists – here’s everything you need to know appeared first on MusicTech.

HEDD Audio’s Type 05 A-Core monitors are practically perfect€599 each, hedd.audio
Berlin-based manufacturer HEDD Audio stands out from the competition with its innovative and accurate audio products. Now, it’s bringing two new active monitors to its portfolio, which promise unparalleled quality in their price range. The larger of the two, the Type 07 A-Core, features a seven-inch mid/bass driver, while the smaller Type 05 we have here comes with, you guessed it, a five-inch unit.

READ MORE: IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor Pro: Superb for on-the-go producers and for creators with poor acoustics

The Type 05 A-Core has a small footprint ideal for home producers and creators with limited space, but would be equally at home sitting atop a console, for near-field monitoring in a professional studio.
Although these are new products, they are essentially analogue-only versions of the company’s coveted DSP-enhanced MK2 monitors. For those who aren’t interested in the digital capabilities of the MK2, you get all the benefits of the MK2’s sound without the added expense of the DSP system. As such, the new A-Core series offers a more affordable entry into the prestige HEDD line-up. Like all the brand’s products, these new monitors are designed and hand-assembled in Germany.
The hand-built AMT is an electrodynamic transducer that works on the principle of a folded Kapton diaphragm, with the multiple folds offering an effective driving area over three times higher than moving coil drivers and planar-magnetic and electrostatic types. As well as providing a superb transient response, the larger area avoids high excursion, with vanishingly low distortion, especially at the lower end of its operating frequencies. As it is, the AMT crosses over from the mid/bass driver at 2.5 kHz and extends all the way up to 50 kHz.
Image: Felix Zimmermann
Having such a quick tweeter is all very well but, unless the woofer can keep up with the pace, the sound can become disjointed. Thankfully, Type 05 A-Core’s mid/bass unit is made from a stiff yet lightweight honeycomb compound material, which pairs extremely well with the tweeter in terms of both speed and timbre. It digs pretty deep for such a small driver, reaching down to 43 Hz, so it can reproduce the lowest notes of a bass guitar, for example. The low-end is supported by two front-firing ports and if you monitor at high SPLs, you can feel a gust of air from them, so you know they are working hard to reinforce the bass produced by the little five-inch mid/bass driver.
Each driver is powered by a dedicated 100-watt Class D-ICE amplifier, enabling a maximum SPL of 112 dB, ample for any real-world monitoring situation.
Without the fine sonic tuning available from the DSP-equipped MK2, Type 05 A-Core features simple bass and treble controls for those who find them useful. They are located on the rear panel, either side of the larger volume control, so it’s easy to make level and tone adjustments if you are unable to see the knobs you wish to turn. Also on the rear panel are input sockets for unbalanced RCA connectors as well as balanced XLR and TRS cables. The IEC mains power socket and switch are located here also, however, a physical standby switch appears on the front panel for convenience.
Image: Press
Tonally, the monitors are beautifully coherent from top to bottom, with no emphasis on any part of the audio spectrum. Low-end response from the five-inch driver is quite remarkable, sounding far deeper than you might expect. Bass quality is superb too; aside from digging deep, the bottom end is delivered with great agility, keeping things tuneful and making bass lines easy to follow.
Upper bass and low-mids are super clean, without a hint of muddle or muddiness, and integration into the broad midrange is seamless. There are no audible peaks or troughs in the crossover region as the mid/bass driver mates with the AMT tweeter, so you don’t get the impression of two speakers coming out of one box with a mismatch in timbre or timing.
In terms of treble accuracy, HEDD’s AMT unit is up there with the best ribbon and electrostatic designs, sounding crisp yet sweet with no rough edges or sharpness. Cymbals, percussion and other sounds with plenty of high-frequency content are reproduced naturally and realistically, with none of the clangorous hardness of inferior designs.
Image: Felix Zimmermann
The way that these monitors express atmospherics is extremely impressive, giving mixes a hear-through quality. This makes creating ambient cues, such as reverb and delay effects, intuitive.
Set up with the right amount of toe-in, the Type 05 A-Cores are able to deliver an almost 3D holographic image with a real walk-around quality.
While they are capable of great delicacy, sounding enchantingly ethereal with the right material, they also pack a powerful punch when monitoring more aggressive rock or electronica. It’s only when dealing with tracks that rely on a foundation of sub-bass that you might crave a larger monitor or a system comprising a subwoofer. While there’s more low-end weight and extension than you might expect from monitors of this size, you can’t, however, defy the laws of physics.
Image: Felix Zimmermann
I am extremely impressed with HEDD’s new and most affordable monitor. Individual sound sources are reproduced faithfully, and constructing complex mixes is made easier by both their top-to-bottom coherence and their deep, immersive sound staging. They don’t flatter recordings to the degree that mixes then sound flat and lifeless through domestic equipment, yet they aren’t as ruthless as, say, Yamaha NS10s, which become tiresome during lengthy mixing sessions. You can work with the Type 05 A-Cores all day and exclusively, not just to check mixes created with larger monitoring systems.
HEDD’s MK2 range is rightly regarded as class-leading monitoring with all the brilliant onboard DSP technology and, more crucially, superb sound. So if you require simple, accurate analogue monitoring, without the need for added digi-tech, be sure to lend an ear to the Type 05 A-Core. It’s a fabulous near-field monitor that, for most bedroom producers and small studio set-ups, could be everything you need.

Key features

HEDD Air Motion Transformer tweeter
5-inch honeycomb woofer
Dual 100 watt Class D amplifiers
High and low shelving EQ
Frequency range 43 Hz – 50 kHz
Max SPL: 112 dB
Inputs: RCA (unbalanced); XLR & TRS (balanced)
5-year warranty
Dimensions: 308 x 180 x 245 mm

The post HEDD Audio’s Type 05 A-Core monitors are practically perfect appeared first on MusicTech.

GearFest UK 2025: Full exhibitor list revealed Sound On Sound and Tileyard London are pleased to announce the full list of exhibitors set to attend GearFest UK, along with the range of panel talks taking place on the day.

Live Review of Teen MortgageZebulon Los Angeles, CA Contact: ryanc@biz3.net Web: instagram.com/teen_mortgagePlayers: James Guile, vocals, guitar; Ed Barakauskas, drums A new sound has emerged amongst the latest wave of punk bands in the last 10 or so years. A surfy indie-influenced power-pop take on garage punk seems to be exactly the right mix of angst to get the younger generations two-stepping. Bands like Bad Nerves, Wine Lips, Stiff Richards, and Together Pangea have gone on to support legendary touring acts such as Weezer and The Darkness as well as play festivals like Punk Rock Bowling and Riot Fest. Emulating this same sound is D.C.-based duo Teen Mortgage. They were only on the Zebulon stage a mere 10 seconds before a pit erupted, painting the walls of the small venue with the flying bodies of sweaty teenagers. Despite minor sound issues in the beginning, the theme of anti-authoritarianism shone through. Gritty yet catchy punk songs were accompanied by early 2000s Thrasher skate videos playing in the background. Younger generations love to bask in nostalgia when it’s mixed with existential nihilism, and the audiovisual clash on display at the show highlighted just that.The politically charged nature of the lyrics contributed to said nihilism as several people screamed their hearts out to lyrics about greed and fascism. The night took a rather humorous turn as the band enacted a small intermission for water, accompanying the moment with the iconic Wii Shop Channel theme music played in the background. Shortly after, the passion reached an all-time high as several members of the audience attempted to stage dive (rather unsuccessfully). While the set was short by usual show standards, fans still got an opportunity to hear hits like “Oligarchy” and “Tunin In” as well as soon-to-be classics from the new record like “Ride” and “Control.” Teen Mortgage clearly prides itself on being a band that wears their influences on their sleeve, literally. Vocalist/Guitarist James Guile was rocking a B-52s shirt, while drummer Ed Barakauskas could be seen in a Type O Negative shirt. Later, when the band was mingling with the audience members after the show, Ed would go on to cite his shirt when we asked for a quote, stating “I don’t do well when put on the spot, but I can tell you that World Coming Down is the best Type O Negative album.” As we watch the state of semi-mainstream punk shift over time, Teen Mortgage will definitely be a band to look out for.The post Live Review of Teen Mortgage first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Trump’s crypto ties cloud digital assets legislation in CongressMembers in two House committee hearings debated a framework for digital assets while raising concerns about the US president using his position to profit from the industry.

iOS 19: All the rumored changes Apple could be bringing to its new operating systemAs Apple prepares to unveil iOS 19 at WWDC 2025 on Monday, several rumors have surfaced, including a potential new name for the operating system, an entirely new design inspired by the Vision Pro, and more.   Here’s a roundup of the most notable features rumored to be coming to iOS 19.  New name Sources […]

Making solder wick less painful
For some people (e.g. this author) solder wick is a tool of last resort. Unfortunately, solder suckers and vacuum pumps lose most of their utility when you move from through-hole to SMD components, forcing us to use the dreaded wick. For those of us in this mindset, [nanofix]’s recent video which we’ve placed below the break on tips for solder wick could make desoldering a much less annoying experience.Most of the tips have to do with maintaining proper control of heat flow and distribution. [nanofix]’s first recommendation is to cut off short segments of wick, rather than using it straight from the roll, which reduces the amount of heat lost to conduction along the rest of the length. It’s also important to maintain a certain amount of solder on the soldering iron’s tip to improve conduction between the tip and the wick, and to periodically re-tin the tip to replace absorbed solder. Counterintuitively, [nanofix] explains that a low temperature on the soldering iron is more likely to damage the board than a high temperature, since solder wick getting stuck to a pad risks tearing the traces. [nanofix] also notes that most boards come from the factory with lead-free solder, which has a higher melting point than tin-lead solder, and thus makes it harder to wick. He recommends first adding eutectic lead-based solder to the pads, then wicking away the new, lower melting-point mixture. Other miscellaneous tips include cutting a more precise tip into pieces of wick, always using flux, avoiding small soldering iron tips, and preheating the board with hot air. We’ve seen a couple of guides to desoldering before. If you’re looking for more exotic methods for easing the task, you can always use bismuth.

Do not settle.Ed Newton-Rex pens an open letter to the major music companies as they reportedly enter talks with Suno
Source

Live Workflow Tools Simpler TunerAutomatically tune your Samples in Simpler. Using Simpler with tonal one-shots often means manually pitching each sample due to mismatched keys. Simpler Tuners reads pitch info from sample filenames (like E, D#, Bmin) and auto-corrects the Simpler's tuning to the nearest C — fully automatically. Drop it after any Simpler device, and it just works. No mapping needed. Highlights: - Auto-detects pitch from sample names (e.g. C#, Fmin, A). - Instantly retunes Simpler samples to match your session key. - Fully automatic — drop it in and go. - Preserves correct MIDI info for accurate filter tracking and modulation (only the Sample is rep itched). - Works in the background without affecting other Simpler settings or Session Performance. Continued support and free feature updates included. If you find an issue or have an idea that makes the device better simply send me a message. Read More

Tilr releases FILT-R, a free modulated filter plugin for macOS, Windows & Linux
Tilr has released FILT-R, a free modulated filter plugin for Windows, macOS, and Linux. If you’ve been reading Bedroom Producers Blog lately, you’ll know Tilr has been on a roll. Their recent GATE-12 and TIME-12 plugins received plenty of praise from both me and BPB readers in the comments. And for good reason—they’re free, fun [...]
View post: Tilr releases FILT-R, a free modulated filter plugin for macOS, Windows & Linux

Get the Baby Audio TAIP Tape Plugin for just $24.99 until June 18
Audio Plugin Deals is currently offering TAIP by Baby Audio for only $24.99 until June 18, 2025. That’s a massive 75% discount on a unique tape saturation plugin that takes a different approach. I’ve been a fan of Baby Audio for a while now. For one, their freebies are excellent. Magic Dice is a personal [...]
View post: Get the Baby Audio TAIP Tape Plugin for just $24.99 until June 18