Arturia launch KeyLab Mk3 controllers Arturia have announced the launch of the latest versions of their flagship MIDI controller keyboards.

SOUND VISION WORKS ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH WOLFF AUDIOSound Vision Works, a professional audio sales, distribution, and marketing agency, will exclusively represent Wolff Audio, a leader in professional audio equipment design, beginning with Wolff’s MeMore Personal Monitor Mixer. 

The MeMore is designed to solve the problem of distorted and cumbersome headphone monitoring. This all-analog personal monitor mixer from designer Paul Wolff, one of the innovators 

at Wolff Audio, includes twelve input channels: eight mono inputs and two stereo, and two headphone amps with two outputs on each. With its “one knob, one function” design, response 

is intuitive and instant. The MeMore’s tactile, user-friendly interface serves musicians and professionals at all stages through its ergonomic, 13-inch configuration. Fully expandable, 

MeMore units can be cascaded to accommodate larger tracking and post-production scenarios. 

Unlike underpowered, finicky digital cue mixers, the MeMore empowers musicians to achieve optimal performance thanks to its reliable, immediate, and exceptionally clean and powerful analog mixing.

“Having launched our company six months ago, Sound Vision Works is thrilled to represent Wolff Audio, a true legend in audio innovation,” says Will Kahn, Managing Director of Sound Vision Works. “At a time when so much of our workflow as engineers has gone digital, The MeMore returns to what we yearn for: a way to instantly dial in the sound with analog simplicity and unmatched sound quality.”

Kahn continues, “Our mission at Sound Vision Works is to elevate the most brilliant analog and digital toolmakers working in audio today. Wolff Audio is a rare group of minds redefining excellence and creative problem-solving in audio products. We can’t wait to see what the Wolff Audio designers come up with next.”

“We’ve designed the MeMore to meet any musician’s absolute requirement: get a mix, always stay in the groove and focus on their performance rather than wrestling with technology,” says Paul Wolff, MeMore designer and Wolff Audio Co-Founder.

“Together with Sound Vision Works, we aim to set a new standard in what studio gear can achieve. As the only all-analog personal monitor mixer on the market today, the MeMore is an exemplary cornerstone of the kind of innovation and commitment to perfection users can expect from Wolff Audio.”

The MeMore is now available through select retailers, beginning at $1,287. 

The post SOUND VISION WORKS ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH WOLFF AUDIO first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Get a range of classic UAD plugins for just $39 apiece for a limited timeAs far as mixing plugins go, Universal Audio’s UAD effects are the cream of the crop. And for a limited time over at Plugin Boutique, you can get a selection of them for just $39 apiece until 1 September.
Yep – UAD plugins don’t usually come cheap, either; some of these deals offer up to 88% off usual retail prices. So if you see something you like, don’t wait around.

READ MORE: Audio interfaces for studios, bedrooms and podcasters: Best audio interfaces and how to choose one that’s right for you

First up, you can get the UAD Sound City Studios plugin for just $39, down from a usual price of $349. That’s a massive $310 off. Yes, you read that right. This plugin lets you add the vibe and sonic character of legendary LA studio space Sound City Studios – which has, over the years, hosted the likes of Nirvana, Metallica and Fleetwood Mac – to your mixes.
Also up for grabs are the Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder – which adds tape-like artefacts on command, providing final “analogue glue” – and the 1176 Classic Limiter Collection, which provides a selection of emulations of the world-famous 1176 compressor in digital form.
Normally priced at $349 and $299, these plugins, like the Sound City Studios plugin, are just $39 apiece until 1 September.
Also included in the sale at only $39 each are the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor, Capitol Chambers Echo, Verve Analog Machines, dbx 160 Compressor/Limiter and more.
There’s a bunch of other plugins available for slightly higher prices, but all boast significant savings, so head to Plugin Boutique to browse the full selection.
The post Get a range of classic UAD plugins for just $39 apiece for a limited time appeared first on MusicTech.

Israeli AI music creation startup Session42 is planning to release a new production tool, HitCraftBrothers Roy and Oudi Antebi have had a hand in producing hits for years. You might have heard their work if you indulge in the odd Eurovision party; from Israel’s 2018 Eurovision-winning song Toy to last year’s entry, Noa Kirel’s Unicorn, the Antebi brothers have quite the ear for a catchy pop tune.
The pair’s latest endeavour should aid fellow producers in the studio. Their music tech company, Session42, aims to offer AI production services to industry professionals – and their latest release, HitCraft, is their first serious tool.

READ MORE: More than half of artists would hide the use of AI in their music, per recent survey

Speaking to CNews, Oudi explains that HitCraft isn’t your average AI model. “We are creating a more complex algorithm,” he explains. The tool analyses songs and creates a skeleton of any given track, which producers can then build a track around. And it’s set to safe ample time in the studio.
“Our model is the entire production,” Oudi explains. “If we could do it without artificial intelligence, we would do it. But it allows countless interactions with the songs. No two will be the same, [which is] important to us.”
HitCraft’s first hit was produced in collaboration with Israeli AI company, Aiode. Here Forever ( כאן לעולם) is the first ever Hebrew track produced with the aid of AI. Perhaps controversially, the track revived two famous Israeli singers, emulating the voices of Ofra Haza, who passed in 2000, and Zohar Argov, who died in 1987.

Speaking with publication Israel Hayom, Oudi further explains the company vision: “We set out to build a music production machine, recognising that in commercial music, producers often create the hits. But not every musician can afford pricey studio time.”
“Think of our system as your virtual producer,” he continues. “You feed a sketch into a chatbot, specify your preferences, and within minutes, you’ve got a polished track. It’s revolutionary and accessible to everyone.”
The tool is also trying to maintain the human touch. “We continuously incorporate human-produced tracks, compensating producers each time their work is used,” Oudi says. “This keeps our system learning and evolving while ensuring fair compensation. We have strict guidelines for using human artists’ music and productions, prioritising quality and accuracy.”
While it’s unclear how successful the tool will prove to be, AI-influenced music is certainly making its mark on the industry lately. Germany recently had a totally AI-produced track dominating the radiowaves, Verknallt in einen Talahon reaching #48 on the charts.
The post Israeli AI music creation startup Session42 is planning to release a new production tool, HitCraft appeared first on MusicTech.

Spotify is swamped with AI cover bands farming millions of streamsSpotify is swamped with AI cover bands farming millions of streams from unwitting users, according to multiple reports.
The post Spotify is swamped with AI cover bands farming millions of streams appeared first on Hypebot.

TIDAL adds free songwriter royalty management toolkitTIDAL songwriter royalty management tools now provide a free platform for managing royalties. This makes TIDAL the first major streaming platform to offer this vital option.
The post TIDAL adds free songwriter royalty management toolkit appeared first on Hypebot.

Clean Bandit’s Rather Be melody is literally Ableton’s default Operator patch with reverbRather Be was the song that made Clean Bandit‘s name in 2014, but it turns out that its infectious melody was created in a remarkably simple way.
The track was a huge success, topping the charts in the UK and 11 other countries and later going three-times platinum. It also netted the electronic act their first Grammy.

READ MORE: Thieves steal €40,000 worth of Clean Bandit’s gear in Ibiza

Now, multi-instrumentalist and band member Jack Patterson has revealed how the patch used in the song’s main synth line – which is also used across various other hits by the group – was designed.
In an interview on the Tape Notes podcast, Patterson says that the Rather Be synth was made with Operator, an FM synth plugin that comes with Ableton Live Suite, the DAW’s premium tier. “It’s just an Ableton preset,” he says. “Not even a preset – if you just load Operator […] you just have to turn two knobs, and you’ll get it to sound like that.”

The patch in question is relatively simple. “All it is is a sine wave,” Patterson says, “but it’s got some modulation – an LFO, which is a control signal that makes it go wobbly on the pitch. But it only goes wobbly towards the end of the note, so the beginning of the note sounds in tune, but it goes all sad towards the end of each note, and a bit mournful.”
For Patterson, this is part of how Clean Bandit distinguishes their sound. “To me, that’s the essence of what a lot of our music is. It’s potentially quite joyful music but with an undertone of melancholy. That synth sums that up.”
He adds that they tend to favour more clean and “pure” synth sounds. “My grandma always had these electric organs that she’d get from charity shops in her house, and they always had these very basic, minimal, not overly complicated synthesizer sounds. They were the first synths that I played with, and that aesthetic really appealed to me.
“Especially if you’re trying to mix in classical elements, maintaining that purity in the synth sound design lets those more complex sounds sit on top without it becoming too rich.”

Learn more about Clean Bandit.
The post Clean Bandit’s Rather Be melody is literally Ableton’s default Operator patch with reverb appeared first on MusicTech.

4 Strategies to Sell More Music: Ye, Chappell Roan, Travis Scott, Ice SpiceWant more fans to buy your music in 2024? Check out these four proven strategies from Ye, Chappell Roan, Travis Scott, and Ice Spice that sell more music.
The post 4 Strategies to Sell More Music: Ye, Chappell Roan, Travis Scott, Ice Spice appeared first on Hypebot.

Cyberdrive from JGM Sound JMG Sound and United Plugins have announced the release of what they say is the ultimate distortion plug-in.

Can Solid State Logic’s Sourcerer solve your mic bleed and feedback problems?Individual licence: £63.99
Included in subscription plans from $149.99 / year
solidstatelogic.com
Name a classic expander. Go on, at least try. Can’t think of anything? No, neither can we offhand! While the recording world is overflowing with models and variations of compressor, and many of the most sought-after outboard units are compressors, their cousins, expanders, barely get a look-in.
Sure, there are fewer reasons to reach for an expander than a compressor. But if you use microphones and want to control the ever-present nuisances of mic bleed/spill and, in a live situation, feedback, then an effective expander should be an essential part of your signal chain.

READ MORE: Is Dreamtonics Vocoflex a must-have vocal plugin or just an AI toy?

What is this sorcery?
Originally a component of the SSL Live console range and now released as a standalone plugin, Sourcerer is designed for exactly these noise gating and feedback-stopping tasks. Although conceptually much the same as many other ‘downward’ expanders (an expander that kicks in when the signal falls below a set threshold), the thing that is immediately noticeable about Sourcerer is that it doesn’t look like most expanders.
Expander plugins typically present themselves as the opposite of a compressor, with similar parameter names and visualisations as found on compressors, but with everything working the other way around. Sourcerer, on the other hand, has been designed with its intended purpose front-and-centre, and it’s surprising how striking a difference this makes.
The primary controls for configuring Sourcerer’s expander have been reduced to just two dials, Threshold and Depth, along with three options – Fast, Med and Slow – for controlling the expander’s release speed. You are also given a choice of whether Sourcerer’s detector should operate in Peak or RMS mode, the former making it more sensitive to transients and rapid changes in signal level, and the latter smoothing-out those sudden changes.
When coupled with Sourcerer’s visual readout, these simple controls make light work of setting up the plugin on any source.
The Sourcerer
Intuitive visualisations
The visualisation features just two simple horizontal bar meters, the upper showing the input signal level along with a threshold marker, and the lower indicating the strength of processing being applied. Interpreting this readout proves to be remarkably intuitive. It’s obvious when the expander is ‘open’ and not affecting the signal, and it’s clear how strongly the signal is being affected at other times.
Additionally, alongside the Threshold dial is a lamp that lights when the signal is above the threshold, indicating that it is passing unhindered. This is, again, intuitive, although the lamp’s label of ‘Active’ is perhaps a misnomer given that the expansion process is inactive when the lamp is lit…
…or, more accurately, largely inactive, because Sourcerer has an extremely soft knee, and so its expansion ratio reduces smoothly and progressively the more the signal exceeds the threshold. This results in a forgiving, natural-sounding effect, with none of the ‘chopping’ of a more primitive noise gate, and little of the sudden volume drops that expanders can be prone to.
Sidechain filtering
The upper portion of Sourcerer’s window manages the sidechain, with a real-time spectrometer readout overlaid with markers for controlling the sidechain’s high- and low-pass filters. These make it easy to focus the expander’s sensitivity on a specific frequency range and/or have it reject frequencies that you aren’t interested in. For example, applied on the snare track of a multi-miked drum kit, Sourcerer’s sidechain filters can be used to make the plugin ignore kicks, hi-hats and cymbals whilst still responding faithfully to snare hits. Other expanders can do similar, of course, but Sourcerer makes easy work of setting this up.
The plugin also supports external sidechains, allowing one signal to be processed with the dynamics of another. When enabled, it’s this external signal that is shown in the sidechain spectrometer, making it easy to understand how the sidechain and main processed signal are interacting. There’s also a sidechain listen button, so you can hear what’s going on too.
The Sourcerer with ducking enabled
Why’s there a ducker on my expander?
In addition to its primary expansion duties, Sourcerer also includes a Ducking section intended to help deal with inconsistent background noise/bleed being picked up by a mic. The ducker is relatively simple, with a dial to control the strength of ducking and a delay section for modifying the ducker’s timing with respect to the sidechain signal that’s triggering it, and its behaviour varies depending on whether that sidechain signal is internal or external.
When used with the internal sidechain, a DC offset is applied to the sidechain signal in order to increase the noise floor, thereby making the plugin respond smoothly and reliably to quieter noise. In our tests we find this to be only marginally useful because, in order to maintain Sourcerer’s otherwise perfect responsiveness, the ducking strength has to be so subtle as to be barely there.
Keying from an external sidechain to dip the signal’s volume in response to another is a more conventional usage of a ducker. In this mode, Sourcerer’s expander continues to key from the internal sidechain whilst the ducker listens to the external one. However, with only a single threshold setting shared between expander and ducker, this is rather awkward to configure.
SSL knows its business and so doubtless there are circumstances in which Sourcerer’s ducking stage is helpful. But, in contrast to the expander, we find it fiddly to configure and it does not add anything to the plugin’s core noise-gating role, or its feedback-reduction role. If we needed a ducker alongside Sourcerer we’d sooner set one up the conventional way using a compressor.

Should I buy SSL Sourcerer?
Ducking aside, and focusing on the plugin’s core purpose, there aren’t many expanders that deliver results that are as natural-sounding as Sourcerer, nor that go about their business with as much grace and effortlessness.
When working with full bands or other multi-miked sources, whether in the studio or on stage, the plugin makes it simple to isolate each sound source, cutting away the spill and crud to deliver a much more coherent, tight-sounding mix.
The plugin is great value too, being reasonably priced when bought as an individual licence, and bringing with it a huge library of high-quality SSL (and other) plugins if acquired as part of an SSL subscription package.
We’ll certainly be using Sourcerer as a go-to expander. We’re not so sure about the ducker though.
Key features

Expander designed for controlling mic spill/bleed and feedback
AAX, AU and VST3 (Apple Silicon native)
Supports external sidechaining
Ducking section
Integrated help system
Available as single licence or as part of subscription bundle
Single licence price can be spread across multiple payments (rent-to-own)

 
The post Can Solid State Logic’s Sourcerer solve your mic bleed and feedback problems? appeared first on MusicTech.

Win a $50,000 scholarship to a premier production school
Learn how you can win a scholarship to Stargate's premier music production school, LAAMP.

Live Review of Nation Beat in New YorkJoe’s Pub New York, NY

Web: nationbeat.com

Contact: fiona@thebloomeffect.com

Players: Scott Kettner, percussionist, bandleader; Tom McHugh, trombone; Mark Collins, trumpet; Paul Carlon, tenor saxophone; Heather Ewer, sousaphone; Christylez Bacon and Melanie Scholtz, guest vocalists

Material: To celebrate the release of their new album, Archaic Humans, Nation Beat held a show at Joe’s Pub. Nation Beat is a jazz group from Brazil, founded in 2017 by Kettner. The album blends jazz, forró, maracatu, beatboxing, and vocals into something beautiful and unique.

Musicianship: Nation Beat’s musicianship is unparalleled. They strive to blend New Orleans-style jazz with the Brazilian maracatu, a performance style created for festivals in the northeast. Every member capitalized their opportunities to shine with features and solos, often repeating improv sections. Kettner and Bacon went head-to-head before “A New Flow,” battling it out between Kettener’s pandeiro and Bacon’s beatboxing. About halfway through, Kettner treated the audience to a pandeiro solo. He used alternative techniques such as dragging motions and different parts of his arm to create unique sounds, before incorporating a loop pedal and additional percussive instruments to compose a new track on stage. 

Performance: A mixture between a theater and a jazz club, Joe’s Pub is a swanky venue, organically encouraging feedback from the crowd. Any time someone soloed or the band finished an impressive section, the crowd went wild. Audience participation was a major part of their show. Before beginning “Give A Little,” Bacon took a minute to sit with the audience and explain how important they were. From there, he went through the call and response of “give a little!” at the end of his phrases. This returned with their version of “Hey Pocky Way,” but the ultimate testament to the symbiotic nature of the show was when couples got up from their tables to dance in the aisle. 

Summary: Nation Beat is one-of-a-kind. They never miss an opportunity to fold different cultures into their sound, constantly evolving as they play. It makes them a perfect embodiment of jazz—creating, growing, and changing with their music. Their album Archaic Humans debuted in May, so make sure to give it a listenThe post Live Review of Nation Beat in New York first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Polaris Dawn will push the limits of SpaceX’s human spaceflight program – here’s how to watch it launch liveAfter a nearly three-year interlude, Jared Isaacman is returning to space. The billionaire entrepreneur first went to orbit as part of the Inspiration4 mission, which made history for having a crew composed entirely of private citizens, not professional astronauts. But with this next mission, Polaris Dawn, he and mission partner SpaceX have set their sights […]
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Oscar Scivier named Warner Music’s Senior Director, A&R, AsiaIn his new role at Warner Music, Scivier will be based in Hong Kong
Source

PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin hits $1B market capPYUSD is competing with rivals such as Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT.