“It frustrates me to hear people bashing something that’s so amazing”: Todd Edwards is optimistic about AI in music productionThough now pretty ubiquitous, AI is a topic of serious contention, particularly among musicians and producers. How much of a role should AI play in the creative process, if at all? And is it ethical to use it given some models have been accused of using unlicensed data sets to train?
Mention AI to some producers and they’ll show you the door faster than you can generate a sample using Suno, but not everyone is totally anti-artificial intelligence.
Take house legend Todd Edwards, for example, who tells MusicRadar in a new interview that AI has become an integral part of his creative process, particularly when it comes to musical exploration, and disagrees with those who reject the technology outright.

READ MORE: Is too much gear a bad thing? Hazel Mills says “option paralysis is very real” – and it could be killing your creativity

“I resent the way people talk about this technology as if it’s from the devil,” he says. “I feel like the seasoned producer will see it as a potentially powerful tool, but the amateur or the person that doesn’t have the skillset will see it as a threat.”
He reveals that he has been using Suno Studio to generate legally safe samples. He explains that in 2025, he was “making [his] own samples by playing synths or using Splice. It just got depressing”.
But with Suno Studio, “there’s so much potential there, and it’s been able to reignite the idea of what you can do as a sample artist,” he continues.
Edwards offers a counter argument to those critical of AI’s alleged unauthorised scraping and use of copyrighted material, saying this practice has taken place by producers sampling material for decades, only on a smaller scale.
“What ticks me off is that there’s so many negative things that get said,” he goes on. “They say, ‘You’re taking money out of artists’ mouths’, but I’m sorry, I don’t remember every single artist on Beatport clearing samples! Is everyone clearing samples? Because if you’re not, it’s the same thing, just on a smaller scale.”
He also argues that using AI to generate samples isn’t any less creative than using sample libraries like Splice, which consist of sounds made by other artists.
“They say that it’s synthetic, but you’re using Splice packs,” he says. “You’re using other people’s sounds and you’re paying a credit to do that. If you build a whole track out of loops, that’s no different, in my mind. The hypocrisy in the industry is insane…”
“It frustrates me to hear people bashing something that’s so amazing. I guess it’s all about how you use it.”
Still, the AI debate continues, and is doing so in the comments section of a new post on his Instagram page promoting the MusicRadar article.
“Todd respectfully, this feels so needless,” comments Glasgow-based producer Austin Ato. “You have made genre defining music through your own originality and exploration. I know AI is promised as a new land to explore but it’s land built on stolen work and data centres. Please reject this easy way and stay original.”
“I understand the potential of using it as a creative tool but the ethics of it are just unacceptable right now…these samples aren’t being generated out of thin air, it’s the stolen work of fellow artists,” adds another user.

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The post “It frustrates me to hear people bashing something that’s so amazing”: Todd Edwards is optimistic about AI in music production appeared first on MusicTech.

Lyft is paying $272.5M to settle lawsuit over how it classified driversToday, gig economy drivers are classified as contractors. This settlement clears up a lingering lawsuit from 2020 when that was still an unanswered issue.

Evernorth clears shareholder vote ahead of Nasdaq debut with 473M XRP treasuryEvernorth expects to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN after its SPAC merger closes, with an XRP treasury worth roughly $710 million at current prices.

The Music Connection October Spotify Playlist is Live!October is here and our monthly playlist representing each issue is back.

Listen along with us as we get wild with some of cover girl Slayyyter's biggest bangers and enjoy artists (new and legacy) covered in the issue's Live Reviews, Album Reviews, Signing Stories and New Music Critiques.

While you're there please like and follow Music Connection's profile and check out our brand new playlist feature Sound System.

The post The Music Connection October Spotify Playlist is Live! first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

FRCTL GRNi LiteGRNi Lite is a free granular sampler. Drop a recording on the waveform, set the note it's in, and play it on the keys. Every note you hold grows its own cloud of grains from the recording. It runs the same grain engine as the paid GRNi, with three controls on the front instead of the full instrument. Three controls ROOT, C to B. The note your sample is in, so the keyboard plays it in tune. Samples are almost never at C, so this is the one to set first. SIZE, 10 to 500 ms. How long each grain is. Short grains sound grainy and glitchy, long grains smooth out into pads. DENSITY, 0.5 to 200 grains per second per note. From a sparse crackle to a solid cloud. All three can be automated in your DAW. The waveform Drop a WAV, AIFF, FLAC, OGG or MP3, or click LOAD. Drag the edges of the highlighted selection to choose which part of the sample the grains play from. Zoom in for fine edits. A glow shows where each note is reading from as you play. Each held note gets its own stream of grains, so chords build up. Buffer library Save the sample and its selection under a name and load it back in any project. The library folder is shared with the full GRNi, so everything saved in Lite carries over. Specs Free, permanently. No serial, no account, no trial timer. Instrument plugin: VST3 and CLAP on Windows, macOS and Linux, plus AU on macOS. No standalone app. Windows 10 or later. macOS 10.13 or later, native on Intel and Apple Silicon, signed and notarized. Linux with ALSA or JACK. On-screen keyboard from C2 to C7, plus any MIDI controller. Resizable window. Commercial use included. The full GRNi GRNi adds a second sample layer with BLEND, which decides grain by grain which layer each new grain reads from; SCALE mode with ten scales; mono, legato and poly voicing with portamento; MPE; 3 LFOs, 3 envelopes and 4 macros with an XY pad; a 10-slot FX rack; 52 factory presets that never touch your sample; and a standalone app. $44.99, with a 14-day free trial. Read More

A Mechanical Radio, Sort Of[The Mike Stuff] has an interesting proposition. He asserts that ancient people like the Greeks could have built a form of radio that was purely mechanical. We aren’t sure we agree, but even if it were possible, we are sure it would have sounded awful. You can see the details in the video below.
The idea is that you can compress air with a waterwheel, blow it through a rotating disk with slots in it, and a valve to amplitude modulate the airflow through the disk. Horns like an old gramophone speaker would amplify the signal at both ends. The demodulation is straightforward and doesn’t even require power, like compressed air.

This is a fun idea, but even [Mike] notes it wouldn’t be very good. We suspect you’d just hear a 10 kHz buzz. On the other hand, this would be pretty easy to build if you wanted to test it. Use an electric motor to spin the disk — after all, we’ll stipulate that you could turn a disk with water power, even if speed control is a little challenging.
If you build it, we’d love to hear about it. Just don’t use it to send us an air-radio message. Try e-mail instead. What do you think? Would this work? We get that if it did, it wouldn’t work well, but would it work at all? Let us know what you think.
If you think about it, building regular receivers that are of low performance is easy enough. With a little work, simple receivers can actually work quite well.

Volt Gen 2 & Volt Max interfaces from Universal Audio UA's new Volt Gen 2 and Volt Max offerings come equipped with Tone Shaping Preamps — the latter also includes onboard Max dynamics processing — as well as offering integration with LUNA and a number of other popular DAWs. 

Watch Lyncs make an indie pop hit with an assortment of mystery sounds
Expert producer, instrumentalist, and vocalist Lyncs makes an indie pop demo out of nothing but the objects and prompts within our box.

Less than three months after exiting Kobalt, Willard Ahdritz officially launches Ahdritz Capital PartnersEx-Lazard banker Stephen Langer and former SSE Ventures CEO Isabel Keulen join the Kobalt founder's new firm.
Source

Is too much gear a bad thing? Hazel Mills says “option paralysis is very real” – and it could be killing your creativityWhen it comes to music production gear – MIDI controllers, keyboards, microphones, plugins – there’s no shortage of options available. But could so much choice actually be a bad thing?
As a producer, the temptation is always there to invest in a new piece of kit in the hopes that it might unlock new and unexplored sonic territory. But might it be better, rather than invest money in new equipment, to invest time in thoroughly learning how to use the gear you have?
Hazel Mills, singer, songwriter and session musician – not to mention Kylie Minogue and Florence and the Machine collaborator – says “option paralysis” is, indeed, a real thing when it comes to gear.

READ MORE: Meet the FLpad – a Novation 8×8 grid controller designed specifically for FL Studio

“Option paralysis is very real,” she explains in the latest episode of MusicTech’s My Forever Studio podcast, made in partnership with Audient.
“I don’t often have all of the gear that I have access to set up and ready to go at once. And I could do that if I wanted to, but I almost don’t. I’d rather just have combinations good to go.”
She continues: “I’m a real advocate of limitations, meaning that you can actually be more creative rather than having all these different pieces of gear [that you] only ever really learn on the surface. Whereas if you’ve got one piece of gear that you use for a year, you really get to know it.
“You don’t just get to know how to use it, you also get to know what your relationship is with it, and what your voice is when you’re using it.”
Hazel Mills is the latest guest on Season 8 of MusicTech’s My Forever Studio podcast, where we task some of the top producers and songwriters to put together their dream Forever Studio using any gear they desire.
While it’s an environment for freedom, there are some strict rules in the Forever Studio. Guests are permitted a limited number of items in their creative space, so they have to choose carefully. There will be nostalgia. There will be anecdotes. There may be gags. But there will be no bundles!
Subscribe to My Forever Studio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and check out all episodes so far via MusicTech.

The post Is too much gear a bad thing? Hazel Mills says “option paralysis is very real” – and it could be killing your creativity appeared first on MusicTech.

Hivetune releases ENS-86, a FREE vintage BBD chorus plugin
Hivetune has released ENS-86, a free vintage chorus plugin for macOS and Windows. The developer recently gave us Delta6, a surprisingly user-friendly (for an FM synth) six-operator FM synthesizer with a flexible modulation matrix. ENS-86 is a much simpler release, but once again, I like the intuitive interface and the overall design. The new effect [...]
View post: Hivetune releases ENS-86, a FREE vintage BBD chorus plugin

Novation launch the FLpad Novation have teamed up with FL Studio developers Image-Line to create another dedicated controller for the popular DAW, but rather than another keyboard to the collection, the latest offering draws its inspiration from the Launchpad family.

Segment CPH launches Palora virtual-analog synthesizer
Segment CPH has released Palora, a virtual analog synthesizer for macOS and Windows, available at an introductory price of €47.40. This is the first release from Copenhagen-based developer and music producer Peter Bojesen. Palora began as a pluck synthesizer for his deep-house productions before growing into a more versatile instrument for basses, pads, leads, keys, [...]
View post: Segment CPH launches Palora virtual-analog synthesizer

Meet the FLpad – a Novation 8×8 grid controller designed specifically for FL StudioImage-Line – maker of FL Studio – continues to extend its reach via thoughtful collaborations with some of the music tech world’s biggest brands. 
Just last month, the company announced it had partnered with Antares to bring the world-renowned AutoTune plugin to FL Studio in a native plugin (available even to free users), and now it has joined forces with Novation to develop the FLpad, an 8×8 grid controller designed specifically for FL Studio.

READ MORE: Ableton CEO and co-founder Gerhard Behles on independence, longevity and community

Of course, this isn’t the first time Novation and Image-Line have partnered up; the pair launched the first range of FLkey MIDI controllers in 2022, and unveiled the second generation of the FLkey lineup earlier this year. We got our hands on two FLkey 2 models shortly following their release, and couldn’t help but feel they were the “ultimate FL Studio controller”.
But this latest collab marks Novation and Image-Line’s first FL Studio-dedicated grid controller. It’s not just one model we’re getting, though. There’s actually two, the FLpad and FLpad mini, both sporting 8×8 grids, the former boasting a larger one with velocity-sensitive pads, and the latter featuring smaller grid pads for “grab-and-go creation”.

Aimed at FL Studio producers working with finger drumming and step sequencing, each model’s 64 RGB-backlit pads can be configured for melodic playing, too, both chromatically and locked to a chosen scale.
Both FLpads unit also sport a selection of dedicated controls for navigating the sequencer and channel rack, building tracks with Patterns, mode switching, transport control, undo/redo and more.
Additionally, within Novation Components, the companion software to Novation’s range of hardware controllers, producers can create custom layouts for their FLpad tailored to specific FL Studio workflows.
Credit: Novation
While you might feel the FLpad looks similar to Novation’s existing Launchpad lineup, the company promises “its DNA is entirely new”. “From its user interface to its firmware and DAW scripts, FLpad has been designed with FL Studio’s Channel Rack in mind,” the company says.
You might also be interested to know that each FLpad comes with six months of FL Studio Producer Edition (normally priced at £22/month), as well as a range of premium instruments and effects from UVI, GForce and Klevgrand, plus finger-drumming lessons from Melodics.
“We’re proud to partner with Image-Line once again and build on the momentum of FLkey 2 with a new line of hardware controllers,” says Novation Product Manager Mario Buoninfante. 
“Through our previous collaborations with Image-Line, we’ve gained a deep appreciation for what makes this DAW so beloved of beatmakers. This understanding has led us directly to FLpad – a grid controller made specifically to augment FL Studio’s unique workflows in intuitive and inspiring new ways.”
Price-wise the larger FLpad clocks in at $219.99 / £179.99, while the smaller FLpad mini is $139.99 / £99.99.
Head over to Novation to learn more.
Credit: Novation
The post Meet the FLpad – a Novation 8×8 grid controller designed specifically for FL Studio appeared first on MusicTech.

All of the best deals on Plugin Boutique right now: UJAM, Soundtoys, XLN Audio and moreYou can never have too many plugins, right? We’ve found a bunch of deals so you can grab yourself a bargain and grow your collection even more.
We’ve been scouring Plugin Boutique for the best deals running across October 2026, and there are currently huge savings across brands like UJAM, XLN Audio, and Soundtoys.

READ MORE: The best new music plugins this week, free and paid

From bundle discounts to quirky soft synths and virtual instruments, have a look at some of the highlights we’ve found below.
Save on instrument bundles from UJAM

There are plenty of discounts on UJAM virtual instrument bundles – get 59% off the Virtual Guitarist bundle until 11 October, offering 777 presets, 12110 phrases, 365 styles, five guitars, 195 ‘Finisher Modes’. You can also save on its Virtual Bassist Bundle 2 (now £52, down from £174) and its Virtual Guitarist CINEDREAM pack (now £26, down from £113).