Kei Truck Looks Like a Giant Power ToolKei trucks are very versatile vehicles, but their stock powerplant can leave a bit to be desired. If you need more power, why not try an electric conversion?
[Ron “Mr. G” Grosinger] is a high school auto shop and welding teacher who worked with his students to replace the 40 hp gas motor in this Daihatsu Hijet with the 127 hp of a Hyper 9 electric motor. The motor sits in the original engine bay under the cab and is mated to the stock transmission with a custom adapter plate made from plate steel for less than $150. We really appreciate how they left all the electronics exposed to see what makes the conversion tick.
The faux battery was made by a foam sculptor friend out of urethane foam shaped with a carving knife and then painted. It slides on a set of unistrut trolleys and reveals the 5 salvaged Tesla battery modules that power the vehicle. The fold down sides of the truck bed allow easy access to anything not already exposed if any tweaking is necessary.
We’ve seen a kei truck become a camper as well or an ebike powered with actual power tool batteries. If you’re thinking of your own electric conversion, which battery is best?

Strange Audio DSP maniFold OmegamaniFold Omega is a hybrid real-time effect processor that blends real-time micro-looping, granular fx, spectral-style delay processing, and feedback-based textures. It's designed for experimental sound design, ambient layering, glitch textures, and abstract time-based transformations: Key Features. Micro-looper and Granular FX engine with 16 Play Heads. Each head plays from a shared variable-size audio buffer. Randomized playback: Position, length, panning, and pitch. Real-time Visualization: Monitor active heads and playback positions instantly. Advanced Buffer Management: Variable Buffer Size: Adjustable from 1 to 60 seconds, allowing for everything from tiny glitches to massive ambient loops. State Saving: The audio buffer state is saved directly with your DAW project, so your textures are exactly where you left them when you reload. Buffer Control. Freeze/Lock: Capture a sonic moment for infinite looping. bufferClear: Instantly flush the play/record buffer for a fresh start: Delay Cluster. 16 delay lines using all-pass filter topology (not standard delays). Rich comb-filtering, pitch smearing, and spectral-like time dispersion: Recirculation. Feeds the delay network back into itself for evolving, chaotic textures. Functions similarly to a high-end reverb tank or modular feedback loop. Envelope & Loop Shape. mLoopShape: Sets the amplitude envelope for each play head. mLoopSize: Defines minimum playback size (500ms to 5s) for tighter or broader loops. https://youtu.be/RerMg40BISk Available as VST3 and AU for macOS and Windows. Check this fully functional DEMO DEMO you can purchase FULL version with lifetime key and offline activation Full Read More

Antares’ announces major update for its AI-powered Metamorph plugin, allowing users to import third-party voice modelsAntares, the company behind AutoTune, has announced the first major update for its AI vocal transformation plugin, Metamorph V1.1.
Building on Metamorph’s foundation of premium, offline processing, the update introduces the ability to import third-party RVC models (AI-powered voice changers) while “maintaining the security and privacy that Metamorph users expect”. The update is free for all existing users.

READ MORE: LANDR’s Blueprints and Layers are AI tools that promise to inspire ”mix-ready” ideas

Metamorph first landed in November last year, and runs entirely offline inside your DAW. From its first launch, it came with 12 “ethically trained” voice models, plus six others developed in partnership with Voice-Swap.
Now, with the ability to import third-party RVC models, users can bring over custom-trained models or community creations directly into the plugin, all while a “security-first” approach protects your computer and privacy.
Vocal Range Matching has also been introduced to the plugin, which automatically analyses a user’s vocal input and optimises it to sit naturally within the chosen voice model’s range. A drag-and-drop export feature now also lets you drag processed vocals directly from Metamorph onto your DAW timeline with no extra steps.

Antares also reiterates that it is “a proud supporter of The Principles for Music Creation with AI”, meaning AutoTune remains “committed to responsible AI development”. While V1.1 enables third-party model import, all 18 voices included with Metamorph are sourced with authorisation and compensation in place.
AI is fast expanding across the plugin market, and LALAL.AI has just launched its first ever VST plugin, bringing its stem-splitting technology to your DAW for the first time to reduce the time spent switching between workflows.The plugin uses its Lyra model, and is designed to run locally on nearly any hardware.
To find out more about Metamorph, head over to the Antares website.
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10K Audio update Gyro real-time looper 10K Audio have recently launched a major update that adds some powerful new functions to their real-time looping instrument.

Krystal Dynamics offers three new FREE plugins for macOS and Windows
Krystal Dynamics is a new developer, launching with several new plugins for macOS and Windows, and best of all, they are absolutely free! Before we get into the plugins, a quick word on the Krystal Dynamics website. The website launched a few weeks ago, and all appears to be fine, but my antivirus software hates [...]
View post: Krystal Dynamics offers three new FREE plugins for macOS and Windows

Behringer’s recreation of the Roland Juno-60 has finally landed – “supercharged” with eight-voicesRight off the back of January’s NAMM show, Behringer has officially launched the JN-80, its recreation of the Roland Juno-60.
Behringer claims this new launch is faithful to its original inspiration, with a “meticulously engineered” signal path built around genuine DCOs, a 24 dB low-pass VCF based on the original 3109 chip, and classic VCA architecture.

READ MORE: “What’s currently out there isn’t good enough; we can do better”: Why AKG wants to raise the bar for budget microphones

The Roland Juno-60 was first launched in 1982, with production ending 1984. It followed on from the Juno-6, and can be heard on classic ‘80s records, including Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams and across the catalogues of Wham and Enya. It was even well-loved by house music pioneer Larry Heard, Daft Punk, and Liam Howlett of The Prodigy.
What are the key features of the JN-80?
Behringer’s JN-80 is a fully analogue synth, and is “supercharged” with eight-voices rather than the six-voice architecture of the original Juno-60. Each voice is fully polyphonic, with flexible poly, unison, and dual modes available. It has a built-in arpeggiator with an adjustable rate slider and multiple playback modes including up, down, and up/down, and you can also dial in your desired tone with controls for the LFO, DCO, HPF, VCF, VCA, envelopes, and chorus.
While the original Juno allowed users store patches, the JN-80 takes things further by letting you save up to 400 presets, each with a “compare and match” feature that helps you “quickly align your analogue controls with stored settings”, according to Behringer. 200 presets are already on board, however, featuring 100 Premium Sounds courtesy of Ultimate Patches.
Hear how the JN-80 sounds, and find out more in the video below:

The JN-80 is priced at $569. Find out more or buy now at Behringer.

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6 key arguments from Concord and UMG’s $3bn Anthropic lawsuit – and why it’s one of the most significant AI copyright fights yetA closer look at UMG, Concord and ABKCO's second copyright infringement lawsuit against AI giant Anthropic
Source

John Legend shares his go-to chord progressions
John Legend shares some of his favorite chord progressions that he instinctively reaches for when trying out the new sounds inside of Splice INSTRUMENT.

Audiotonix to acquire DPA Microphones, Wisycom, and Austrian Audio, delivering “substantial advantages to all professional customers who demand the best”Audiotonix will be acquiring three popular microphone and wireless audio companies: DPA Microphones, Wisycom, and Austrian Audio.
A press release from the company says the acquisition is now being filed for regulatory approval and should be completed in H1 2026. Audiotonix is a global market leader in the design, engineering and manufacture of professional audio mixing consoles and ancillary products. It is the parent company of Solid State Logic, Sonible, and many more.

READ MORE: Native Instruments CEO updates users: “Business continues as usual at Native Instruments, iZotope, Plugin Alliance and Brainworx”

DPA Microphones is a Danish company with more than six decades of microphone design experience, having created mics for a range of professional markets including live sound, theatre, film, and installation.
Italian company Wisycom provides solutions for RF (radio frequency) challenges across broadcast, live events, corporate and location sound, while Vienna-based Austrian Audio delivers innovative microphones, headphones and audio tools while maintaining a strong connection to the brand’s acoustical heritage.
James Gordon, CEO of Audiotonix, states, “With the development work we have been investing in with Sound Devices, it makes technological sense to add Wisycom to the team. The next logical step is to move closer to the performer with microphones, and DPA as a premium brand is the ultimate choice.
“Austrian Audio, with their decades of microphone and headset design experience, have immense potential and will help complement our existing and future portfolio. We always aim to work with brands that add value for our customers, and the future potential of this trio as part of Audiotonix is not hard to imagine.”
Kalle Hvidt Nielsen, CEO at DPA Microphones, adds:  “DPA Microphones, Wisycom, and Austrian Audio are premium brands known for their strong and visionary product offering, used by many high-end customers who are familiar with all the Audiotonix brands.
“We share many location sound professionals with Sound Devices who rely on best-in-class audio quality and top-notch reliability and so by joining Audiotonix, DPA Microphones, Wisycom, and Austrian Audio get the opportunity to offer more premium solutions to discerning, quality focused customers. The synergy across the brands enhances the group’s capacity to deliver substantial advantages to all professional customers who demand the best. I look forward to more collaboration and moving the state-of-the-art forward in new verticals”.
The post Audiotonix to acquire DPA Microphones, Wisycom, and Austrian Audio, delivering “substantial advantages to all professional customers who demand the best” appeared first on MusicTech.

We’re deep into a RAM crisis — will music gear prices go up?AI. First, it steals our music. Then it steals our water. Now it’s stealing our RAM.
RAM, or Random Access Memory, found in our laptops, phones and yes, music-making gear, is getting gobbled up by AI data centres. And the companies that produce RAM are seemingly all too happy to not just raise prices, but prioritise these chip-munching server farms, leaving musicians and consumers in the lurch.
How much should producers worry about this? Should we be buying up laptops and memory-intensive gear like samplers and grooveboxes while prices are still manageable?
What is RAM?
Before we get to the doom and gloom, let’s define what RAM is.
RAM acts like a device’s short-term memory. Whatever the machine is currently working on gets loaded into the RAM and used to process tasks in real-time. The faster your RAM, the quicker it can do these processes. And the more RAM a device has, the more jobs it can do simultaneously.
In a sampler, for example, RAM acts as the temporary storage facility. Record a bit of audio, and it stays in the RAM while you edit and process it, before getting shuttled into a storage area like an SSD for saving. Effects processors use RAM as places to store buffers or delay lines, or for caching to keep processing smooth.
Why does AI need RAM?
AI is wolfing up the world’s supply of RAM. What does artificial intelligence need it for anyway?
In much the same way that a laptop requires RAM to do temporary calculations, so too do AI applications. The difference is the number of calculations, which is exceptionally vast. Neural networks and large language models (LLMs) need massive amounts of memory to accomplish this. And that’s where data centres come in.
Data centres eat RAM
One computer isn’t enough for AI. It needs gargantuan server farms to handle the workload. These are data centres.
According to Wired, there are at least 5,400 data centres active in the United States alone; the global number is estimated at 12,000 around the globe. Not all of these are AI-focused, but they increasingly are, with 1,000-server centres becoming ever more common. And, because of environmental issues (over half of data centres’ energy requirements come from fossil fuels, according to Eco-Business), there’s even talk of putting data centres in orbit.
“Have you heard this?” says Girts Ozolins of Erica Synths when asked about his company’s use of RAM. “Elon Musk is actively promoting these data centres in space. That’s an absolutely insane thing.” Ozolins goes on to explain the plan for a data centre in orbit with a four-kilometre-wide solar panel. “And this startup has raised like 34 million dollars. It’s impossible by whatever common sense.”
Lots of companies are betting big on space data centres, such as Nvidia’s Starcloud. Whether these ever take off remains to be seen, but either way, the demand for RAM will remain astronomically high.
No matter whether data centres are up above our heads or earth-bound, one thing is for sure: they need RAM. The Wall Street Journal reports that up to 70 per cent of RAM stock for 2026 has already been allocated to AI.
Laptop and phone prices are definitely going up
Data centres use two kinds of RAM: DRAM (the dynamic version of RAM, the type that we’ve been talking about), and HBM, or high-bandwidth memory, which comes packaged with fancy GPUs, as in Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra chip. DRAM and HBM are made up of silicon wafers.
Three companies control 93 per cent of the RAM market: Micron in the United States, South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung. They’re making immense profits, and have been increasing prices as they desire. With demand outstripping supply by around 10 per cent, according to TrendForce, a company that tracks markets for computer components, manufacturers have no choice but to pay up, with some estimates raising current prices by 50 per cent compared to a few months ago.
And, as demand from data centres increases for chips, supply is being directed more and more in their direction and away from the consumer sector, which includes the high-tech devices that music producers need, such as laptops and grooveboxes.
“I keep telling everybody that if you want a device, you buy it now,” said Avril Wu of TrendForce in an article by NPR. “I myself bought an iPhone 17 already.”
Both Micron and SK Hynix are working on bringing new chip fabbing factories online, but they won’t be ready until 2027 or 2028. That means the RAM shortage will likely continue for the foreseeable future.
So what about music gear?
We’ve gotten used to inexpensive memory for our devices. It’s one thing that helps reduce prices and democratise music-making equipment. However, the days of cheap memory appear to be over. Does this mean that prices on gear will go up in response?
The Verge predicts that the shortage could cause overall costs to go up across a broad swathe of consumer gear, including computers, phones (with fewer sales predicted for this year as an overall result), and game consoles.
Will this also affect electronic musical instruments? Possibly, but it mostly depends on the type of instrument or effect it is, the amount of processing required, and other similar factors.
According to Bloomberg, computer company Lenovo is currently stockpiling RAM as part of an attempt to “strike a balance between price and availability.” Larger musical instrument companies that rely heavily on chips may also be doing this, although it requires a large market presence to outbid giant consumer electronics manufacturers.
Another strategy to prevent prices from spiking is to cut costs in other areas. “You may use a cheaper battery, maybe a smaller capacity battery,” Jeff Janukowicz, research VP at International Data Center, a research firm for the technology industry, suggested to The Verge. “Display [screens] might be an area where you might look to do some cost reductions.” While this would not be ideal, memory-heavy instruments like those in the Akai MPC line could be candidates for this kind of cost-cutting. (Akai Professional declined to comment on the RAM shortage.)
Some synthesizers, including Korg’s digital lineup that includes the multi/poly, use Raspberry Pi devices to handle DSP. Bad news: Raspberry Pi has raised prices on its Pi 4 and 5 modules. Korg’s Multi/poly synth uses the Compute Module 4, which contains a Pi 4 module inside. Some of the company’s other synths, like the Wavestate, employ the Compute Module 3, which has already reached the end of its manufacturing lifetime — an issue that could pose other problems going forward.
Roland offers a number of high-tech products with sampling features, such as the SP-404MK2 and Fantom line of workstations. When asked how the RAM crisis may be affecting things, the company tells MusicTech: “RAM chip supply is a common global issue all the manufacturing industries are facing, like US tariffs, and we have been working in flexible and agile ways to find optimised solutions.” What those ways are, the company did not elaborate on.
Ozolins doesn’t see it as affecting Erica Synths, however: “Our RAM chips, they are really on the small side, because we do not need such processing power like a data centre. So, yeah, no effects at the moment.”
No need to worry… yet
So, should you start stockpiling digital gear in anticipation of rising prices? For the immediate future, it’s probably not necessary. Music producers are feeling the economic pinch now for various reasons, and companies know this. With rising inflation, stagnating wages, and tariffs in the United States, no one is really in a position to bear the brunt of another price hike.
Hopefully, manufacturers will find a way to ride the RAM crisis out without significant price rises. Or perhaps the industry is small enough to weather the storm without it causing much upset. That is, if the problem resolves itself as predicted.
If the crisis drags on, however, and RAM manufacturers continue to prioritise data centres, the situation could change within a year or two.
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Fancy winning a Minimoog Voyager XL signed by Thomas Dolby? Here’s how to enterThe Bob Moog Foundation has announced a fundraising raffle for a Minimoog Voyager XL, which has been signed by the legendary musician and tech innovator Thomas Dolby.
The Minimoog Voyager XL, serial number 0745, is in excellent physical and technical condition, and is valued at $7,500. All you need to do is buy a ticket for your chance to win, and all proceeds will benefit the three core projects of the Bob Moog Foundation: Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool, the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, and the Moogseum.

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The Minimoog Voyager XL was released in 2010 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Minimoog Model D. It builds on the original Voyager, released in 2002, with an expanded 61-note keyboard, ribbon controller, additional LFO modulation bus, and an extensive front-panel analogue patch bay. Like the original Minimoog Model D from 1971, it features three wide-range voltage controlled oscillators, one noise source, two resonant filters, an external audio input, two ADSR envelopes and an LFO.
Thomas Dolby is an English musician, record producer, composer, and professor. He was gifted a Voyager XL at Moogfest 2012, when he was awarded the Moog Innovation Award. Early in his career he was a session musician, and played a key role in Foreigner’s 1981 album 4, contributing signature synthesiser sounds, famously heard on Waiting for a Girl Like You and Urgent.
As well as releasing solo music, he’s also worked with Def Leppard, George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic, the Thompson Twins, and more. In the 1990s, Dolby founded Beatnik, a Silicon Valley software company whose technology was used to play internet audio and later ringtones.
The raffle is open now internationally and ends at 11:59 pm (ET) on 23 February 2026. Virtual tickets are $25 each, five for $100, 12 for $200, and 35 for $500. You can get your tickets now.

“The Bob Moog Foundation is proud to be offering the Minimoog Voyager XL, the most expansive version of the last synthesiser that Bob Moog designed,” says Michelle Moog-Koussa, Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation. “We are honoured to celebrate Thomas Dolby’s deep legacy of creativity and innovation through his participation with this raffle.”
Dolby adds, “The essence of the Voyager XL is that it’s the best of all worlds. It’s got the modular capability, ribbon bend controller, MIDI, and presets created by some of the foremost synthesists of our time. It’s everything that we liked about the original Minimoog in a modern package.”
Enter the raffle now and find out more via the Bob Moog Foundation.
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Akai Pro team up with Spitfire Audio The first formal collaboration between the two brands will see a selection of the UK-based sampling experts’ virtual instruments made available within Akai’s MPC ecosystem.

SSL Native X-Saturator is available for $7.99 for a limited time
Plugin Boutique is currently offering SSL Native X-Saturator by Solid State Logic at a heavily reduced price of $7.99, down from its regular $49 price, as part of an 83% discount deal running until February 15. X-Saturator is a saturation and distortion plugin designed to add harmonic content and analogue-style character to your signal. It’s [...]
View post: SSL Native X-Saturator is available for $7.99 for a limited time

Niviem releases three FREE plugins: Phase One, OPT4, and DalEQ
Niviem has released three free plugins for macOS and Windows: the Phase One phaser, the OPT4 opto leveling amplifier, and the DalEQ Core parametric EQ. All three plugins arrived in January this year. And it’s a nicely balanced free bundle that includes one creative effect and a couple of mixing tools. I haven’t tried Niviem’s [...]
View post: Niviem releases three FREE plugins: Phase One, OPT4, and DalEQ

67 plugins for £99 – save £1,800 (!) on the Waves Platinum Bundle for a limited time onlyIt can be difficult piecing together the perfect plugin arsenal – so why not just grab a pro-grade bundle that gives you literally everything you need in one neat package?
Right now at Plugin Boutique – as the online plugin retailer celebrates its 14th anniversary – you can get Waves’ Platinum Bundle, featuring 67 plugins covering dynamics, EQ, reverb, delay and pretty much everything else across production, mixing and mastering, for just £99. And when you consider this bundle is usually priced at £1,885 – that discount is pretty nuts, to put it lightly.
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The Platinum Bundle builds upon Waves’ Gold Bundle, adding a number of premium mastering plugins like the renowned L2 and L3 limiters/maximisers, advanced linear phase compression and other high-end tools.
The Platinum Bundle also features Waves’ complete Renaissance plugin series, including R-Vox vocal compressor, PuigTec analogue-modelled EQs, Smack Attack transient shaper, and LoAir for low-end enhancement.
The bundle also includes Waves fan favourites like the C4 multiband compressor, DeEsser, Doubler, H-Delay, MaxxBass Bass Enhancer, MV2 compressor, Vitamin Sonic Enhancer, and quite literally tonnes more.
And at a current price of just £99 for 67 plugins, that works out to an average of just under £1.50 per plugin. So don’t wait around. Supercharge your production arsenal right now and start making your best tracks and mixes ever.
See a list of plugins included in the Waves Platinum Bundle below:

AudioTrack
C1 Compressor
C4 Multiband Compressor
DeEsser
Doppler
Doubler
Eddie Kramer Drum Channel
Electric Grand 80 Piano
eMo F2 Filter
eMo Generator
eMo Q4 Equalizer
Enigma
Greg Wells ToneCentric
GTR3 Amps
GTR3 Stomps
GTR3 ToolRack
GTR3 Tuner
H-Comp Hybrid Compressor
H-Delay Hybrid Delay
IR-L Convolution Reverb
L1 Ultramaximizer
L2 Ultramaximizer
L3 Ultramaximizer
L3-LL Ultramaximizer
Linear Phase EQ
Linear Phase Multiband Compressor
LoAir
MaxxBass
MaxxVolume
MetaFilter
MetaFlanger
MondoMod
MV2
OneKnob Driver
OneKnob Pumper
PAZ Analyzer
PS22 Stereo Maker
PuigTec EQs
Q10 Equalizer
Renaissance Axx
Renaissance Bass
Renaissance Channel
Renaissance Compressor
Renaissance DeEsser
Renaissance Equalizer
Renaissance Reverb
Renaissance Vox
S1 Stereo Imager
Sibilance
Smack Attack
SuperTap
TrueVerb
UltraPitch
V-Comp
V-EQ3
V-EQ4
Vitamin Sonic Enhancer
VU Meter
Waves Tune LT

Learn more at Plugin Boutique.
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