Sonible smart:reverb 2 has shown me the future of reverb mixing£109 (intro price £79), sonible.com
Sonible’s smart:reverb was one of the first innovative and intelligent reverb processors that can tailor its sound to your material. In version 2, Sonible has given it a complete redesign, tearing up the reverb rule book in the process. smart:reverb 2 reworks the controls you use for dialling in your sound, and how you set up reverbs across a whole mix. With the new Group mode, you can now mix and control multiple plugin instances from a single window. It’s a bold approach that offers a new solution for anyone who struggles with adding depth to the mix.

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It can be all too easy to get excited about new reverb plugins, build up a large collection of them, and end up with choice paralysis. I’m guilty of this, too; I’m often fearful of trying new reverbs and deviating from my tried and tested settings at the risk of upsetting my mix.
With an intuitive interface that invites you to dial in the perfect sound stage to fit your track, smart:reverb 2 could finally be the reverb plugin to consistently rely on.

How does smart:reverb 2 work?
smart:reverb 2 doesn’t come with any presets. Instead, it offers quick and intuitive controls for dialling in the exact sound you want. And, unlike many traditional reverbs, it’s designed to be placed directly on a track, as opposed to a bus send (although you do have the option of setting it to 100% wet and using it that way).
The first thing you do is choose one of the 22 profiles covering drums, guitars, vocals, keys and more, which is an increase from the previous version. You then hit the Learn button and the plugin listens to your audio to create a tailored reverb tail that enhances the sound without masking important details. There’s then a Source Adaption amount at the bottom of the window that can adjust its influence. At 0% you get the raw reverb tail, and at 200% you get any potentially clashing frequencies carved out from the tail to increase the overall clarity.
If you’re worried about AI taking over and making decisions for you then fear not. The Learn function doesn’t actually set the reverb parameters, it just adapts the reverb tail to match your source material.
Main GUI. Image: Press
How do you control smart:reverb 2?
The next step is to adjust the reverb itself. Sonible has done away with controls for pre-delay, mix amount and early reflections, and instead presents a single Distance control that changes these things under the hood.
As you increase the Distance, the sound gets pushed further away from the front to the back, including a Distance Filter that increases the perception of depth by rolling off top-end frequencies at a distance or introducing a subtle proximity effect. It’s simple, intuitive and ultra-effective at moving a sound deeper into the sound stage. It could be useful for creating extra variation between verses and choruses, or as a cool special effect for an outro where it sounds like a singer is walking away into the distance. Of course these types of effects are possible with any reverb, but carefully balancing and automating several parameters at once can prove tricky to get right.
However, smart:reverb 2 would be more flexible if it did have a pre-delay control for those times when you might want a specific gap to fit the timing of a track.
Group Mode 1. Image: Press
How does smart:reverb 2 sound?
Alongside this, you have controls for Size, Width, a tonal Color control, and a dial called Clarity.
Clarity ducks the reverb when the source is present to help maintain intelligibility and definition. Below this is the large Reverb Matrix, where you use an X/Y pad to smoothly blend between Room, Hall, Plate and Spring styles. I’m happy to report that the algorithms have been massively improved compared to smart:reverb, with smooth and glossy tails and a more realistic sense of depth. This was always a criticism of the original, so it’s an extremely welcome upgrade.
A Reverb Display visualises how the reverb’s energy decays in real time. This helps to give a better understanding of the frequency spread and what the Source Adaption is doing, and it updates as you make adjustments to the other controls. There’s also an option to mono the reverb at lower frequencies, a useful Auto gain feature, and four reverb modes. You’ll probably spend most of your time in Normal mode, but you also have the option of Reverse, Infinite and Bounce modes that can be used for more creative effects and drone-like sounds.
These relatively minimal controls can get great results, but if you want to tweak further, then a Manual Override button opens up extra options. It splits the tail into three adjustable bands and lets you increase or decrease the energy in each to give the output a different tonal flavour. You can also pull a slider across that cuts off the tail early, set in either seconds or beats, for instant and easy gated drum effects.
Group Mode 2. Image: Press
What makes smart:reverb 2 different?
Perhaps the biggest innovation here though, is Group Mode. Like Sonible’s smart:EQ 4, it allows you to group multiple instances of the plugin and have them interact with one another. Once you have several instances loaded on your tracks, you can create a new group and add up to seven members.
If you want more, then you’ll have to create separate groups, but to be honest, having seven reverb plugins is probably a reasonable limit when it comes to processing power.
All the instances can then be controlled and edited simultaneously from a single window. You can adjust the Distance amounts for each while listening to the mix, which is an incredibly fluid, fast and natural way to set reverb amounts without having to jump around your DAW.
But the real party trick is that smart:reverb 2 lets you highlight all instances in a Group, and then hit Learn to intelligently optimise how the reverbs interact. It’s essentially doing the Source Adaptation but with a knowledge of how all the tails combine, so frequencies in one tail might be carved out to make space for another. It’s a unique function that helps reduce masking between tails and keep everything sounding clearer. Don’t expect miracles, but on the tracks I try it on, it definitely helps reduce clutter. And when you’re squeezing for that last 5% of polish, then every bit of mix real-estate that you can tidy is worthwhile.
Profiles list. Image: Press
Do I need another reverb?
Since it was released, I’ve been using the first smart:reverb exclusively to help my vocals sit in the mix. I didn’t especially love the sound, but there was something magical (and fast) about how it could add a subtle sense of invisible space. This new version improves on the sonic quality and is also much more inviting to be used across multiple mix elements. The only extra things I’d like to see are a simple output EQ, a dedicated pre-delay control, and the ability to pan the reverb signal, but these are all minor.
It’s not a reverb with buckets of character, and if you’re looking for a sound design tool, then there are other options out there (like Valhalla’s SuperMassive, ModeAudio Airspace, or the new UVI Bloom). But when it comes to creating depth, and adding polish and glue, it just works. The thoughtful plugin design encourages you to mix intuitively and use your ears, which can only be a positive thing.
I think I’ve finally found the plugin that lets me overcome my fear of reverb.

Key features

Content aware reverb plugin (AU, AAX, VST and VST3)
Shape the engine to your audio using AI with 22 instrument profiles
Built to be placed on individual tracks
Innovative Group Mode lets you control multiple instances from one window
Use Group Learn to unmask and clean up multiple reverbs at once
Intuitive Distance control lets you set the track depth
Reverb matrix for blending between Room, Hall, Spring and Plate
Additional controls for Size, Width, Color & Clarity
4 playback modes: Normal, Reverse, Infinite & Bounce
Mono below and Auto gain functions
Manual Override lets you edit the tonal balance and create gated effects
Machine or iLok authorisation

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Colin Hay Discusses Men at Work, His Solo Career, and the Music Biz [Part One]Colin Hay spoke to AllMusic shortly after the release of his latest solo release, Man @ Work: Volume 2, which like its successful predecessor, contains "re-imagined favorites from across Hay's rich catalog, including Men at Work classics, solo album highlights, and new material."

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SEC pushes back decisions on Truth Social, Solana, XRP crypto ETFs The SEC has pushed back decisions on Truth Social’s Bitcoin-Ethereum ETF, Solana products from 21Shares and Bitwise and 21Shares’ Core XRP Trust — all now set for October deadlines.

X’s declining Android app installs are hurting subscription revenueX is struggling on Android with installs down by 49% year-over-year as of June 2025.

FTC says 379,776 concert tickets purchased illegally for resaleThe Federal Trade Commission is suing Key Investment Group (KIG) alleging 379,776 concert tickets purchased illegally for resale for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and other concerts involve violations of the BOTS Act.
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I, 3D PrinterLike many of us, [Ben] has too many 3D printers. What do you do with the old ones? In his case, he converted it into a robotic camera rig. See the results, including footage from the robot, in the video below. In addition to taking smooth video, the robot can spin around to take photos for photogrammetry.
In fact, the whole thing started with an idea of building a photogrammetry rig. That project didn’t go as well as planned, but it did lead to this interesting project.

Motion control used to be exotic, but 3D printers really put it in the mainstream. The printer has motors, lead screws, gears, and belts. Of course, there are plenty of 3D printed parts, too. He did buy a few new pieces of extrusion and some longer belts. In addition, he had to upgrade one stepper to one that uses gears.
The camera tilts plus or minus 90 degrees on what used to be the X axis. The Y axis moves the camera forward and backward. The Z axis still moves up and down, but the extruder motor has a new job.
The extruder motor rotates the target object. Originally, the plan was to spin the camera, but that was difficult since the ring is 18 inches across. In addition to reliably moving it, there’s the wire management to worry about, too. So even though the original plan was to rotate the camera, the final project rotates the object on a turntable.
After prototyping with the 3D printer, he had an outside service CNC many of the parts in metal, both for the appearance and for the rigidity. But we imagine it would be fine with good-quality 3D printed parts.
Overall, a nice way to upcycle an old printer. We didn’t see the design files for any of the parts, but you’d probably have to customize your approach anyway. We’ve seen plenty of these camera rigs. Some of them recycle other tech.

Trump targets scalpers: FTC sues company that bought and resold thousands of Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen ticketsThe action targets Key Investment Group LLC and its network of affiliated companies, along with three individual executives
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The Live Beat: Of Monsters and MenLooks like the parade is coming our way—specifically The Mouse Parade. Iceland’s beloved indie-pop storytellers Of Monsters and Men are packing up their folklore and heartache and heading back to North America this fall in support of their brand-new record All is Love And Pain in The Mouse Parade (out October 17 via Skarkali Records).The trek kicks off in October, winding through November with stops in Toronto, Brooklyn, Washington D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and Los Angeles. Before parading into the States, the band will tune things up south of the border with a set at Mexico City’s Corona Capital Festival.This marks the group’s first full-length in six years, following 2019’s Fever Dream, the album that gave us stadium-sized anthems like “Crystals” and further cemented the band’s reputation for blending mythical imagery with heart-on-sleeve songwriting. The new record promises more of that signature Icelandic alchemy—wistful balladry laced with volcanic crescendos—that has carried them from Reykjavík coffeehouses to the world’s biggest festival stages.Of Monsters and Men still march forward with their original five-piece core: Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, Ragnar Þórhallsson, Brynjar Leifsson, Kristján Páll Kristjánsson, and Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson. Together, they’ve built a catalog that balances wide-eyed wonder with a weathered, lived-in melancholy.North America, consider this your invitation to the parade.More info and ticket prices HERE.The post The Live Beat: Of Monsters and Men first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

How Big Gigantic and Opiuo produce their unique genre of funk-fuelled electronic musicNot that many years ago, iconic artists were trashing EDM and its culture for its “stupid simplicity”. Today, talented multi-instrumentalists, such as Big Gigantic and Opiuo, are designing a new version of EDM that seamlessly blends virtuosic jazz saxophone, dubstep growls and deep house basslines. Maybe it’s not so simple after all?
Big Giantic and Opiuo often write boom-bap beats that sit in the 80-100 BPM range, which is their ideal foundation for genre-melding. Major rappers such as Waka Flocka Flame and Logic have recorded with Big Gigantic, and Opiuo has covered funk classics like No Parking (On the Dance Floor) from the iconic 80s outfit, Midnight Star.

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At this point, both have released numerous albums fueled by this crossover flair. Big Gigantic just put out their eighth album, Fluorescence, back in June, and Opiuo’s next record, Ascension Seeker, will be released in September.
With so much experience, this established approach has seen them booked at major non-electronic events such as the Newport Jazz Festival, and they’ve arranged their music to perform with full symphony orchestras. To boot, they are far from the only ones supporting this style. The electronic trendsetter GRiZ is a fellow champion, while younger acts such as Marvel Years and Vincent Antone are bringing their own, decidedly guitar-driven flavour, to the trend.
Opiuo’s live show, complete with orchestra. Image: Press
But in terms of sheer longevity, Big Gigantic are among the originators, putting out their saxophone-heavy EP, High Life, in 2009.
“It’s cool to see it keep developing, as it will continue to develop for years to come, hopefully,” says Dominic Lalli of Big Gigantic.
“The more people bring it, the more people hear it, but also the more it gets pushed forward and pushes other genres forward,” says Opiuo, real name Oscar Davey-Wright. “As that evolves, it impacts everything else.”
Big Gigantic consists of Lalli playing saxophone and producing electronic beats, and Jeremy Salken playing drums. They evolved into leaders of this crossover movement from playing jazz and funk gigs together for years. But their interests overlapped with artists like STS9 and Pretty Lights, who were early ambassadors of using electronic music elements, like samples, over jam band formats.
Big Gigantic’s Jeremy Salken on drums. Image: Press
“What we were trying to do early on was somewhere in that realm. [Asking ourselves], ‘How can we mix some of this live element jamming and some of the sampling and beats mixture of what Pretty Lights was doing into our own sound?’” Lalli says.
Davey-Wright grew up attending electronic music festivals in his native New Zealand, where he appreciated the widespread, but also stock and trade genres being presented.
“[At festivals,] there was always a trance stage, a house stage, a hard house stage, and I loved it all,” Davey-Wright says. He paired this universal appreciation with his upbringing of playing drums to fill a gap in what he wasn’t hearing at those events. “I always had a heavy passion for rhythm, and I loved big bass lines. Often, the beats in my music are relatively simple, but it gives me the opportunity to fill all of the extra groove with sounds that are foreign to that genre.”
Integrating electronic sounds has been vital to filling that gap, but Lalli and Salken also saw an overlap within the underlying form of electronic music and jazz and funk. No matter how different they sounded, there was always tension and release, similar to a buildup and drop.

“Whether it was a jazz gig or a funk gig, there was this element of building a solo. You build it to a peak, and then you drop it,” Salken says. “That concept of building energy is the same in dance music as it is in a jam band. Bringing the two together to make this experience felt unique. It was a way to nerd out on our instruments, but still play dance music, and have that concept.”
Both artists have their ways of nerding out when they’re building their music in the studio. Lalli often works with samples, just like Pretty Lights. When he records his saxophone into an electronic backdrop without any embellishment, the divide between organic and synthetic can create a discrepancy in the mix.
“It just doesn’t have the same flavour if you just do it directly, especially when you’re trying to build a new horn line,” Lalli remarks.
However, after creating in this style for so long, he’s developed a series of horn samples that are already EQ’d. He layers these samples around the live saxophone or other horns he may record, so they’re not prominent in the mix but provide support to the instrumental line.
“[The samples] are not far out in the mix, because it would sound weird. They’re back in the mix a bit. It gives it this really meaty [sound] that you wouldn’t get if I brought in five horns,” Lalli continues. “Adding this element is the core. You can put all this stuff around it. It really gives it that beefiness that it needs in the song.”
The resulting mix is so seamless that Salken, who is often separate from the production process, wasn’t even aware that Lalli incorporates this technique into the music.

Davey-Wright isn’t a horns player, so when he needs recordings, he reaches out to fellow musicians like Russ Liquid, who also operates in this instrumental electronic space, and Benny Bloom, the trumpet player from the celebrated funk band Lettuce. Once he has their parts, his process is subtractive rather than additive:
“No matter what I get back, I’m always going to pull it apart. They give me a palette of sound. I’ll try and make a new song using the minimal amounts of things possible to give it just enough of the original,” Davey-Wright says. “That’s the same as when I have live instruments. I like grabbing the piece they gave me, and messing with it as much as I can to see where I can go with it, and then sometimes coming back closer to the original.”
Davey-Wright’s method of smashing and rebuilding can mean dragging and dropping pieces of the recording into an entirely new horn line. One example is his 2016 song, Jelly. He was sent a recording, then he chopped it up, then a saxophone player rerecorded his new version, then he chopped it up again.
“It’s kind of a never-ending thing until it just hits, and you can just imagine someone rocking it,” Davey-Wright says. Overall, whenever he reaches out for horn recordings, he treats it like a collaboration between two equal parts:
Big Gigantic. Image:Press
“Maybe they’ll nail your vision. Maybe they’ll be miles away. Maybe your vision doesn’t even exist until you hear someone playing on it. When you can sit there for hours on end, playing a loop, grabbing singular hits for different saxophone tones, and moving them around, there’s freedom in that because you’re not influenced by anything else. After a while, you’re actually starting to create this instrument that you can’t play, potentially, and that’s pretty satisfying.”
Whatever anyone may think about electronic music or EDM, it’s the only genre that allows for the opportunity to create an instrument that can’t be played. Such a feat requires the union of technology and music. Opiuo and Big Gigantic are taking that union in a funky direction, but there’s no telling how it will evolve in the future.
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BandMGT: All-in-One Platform For Gigging MusiciansBandMGT is an all-in-one freemium platform for gigging musicians designed to replace endless juggling of spreadsheets, calendars, shared docs and group chats.
The post BandMGT: All-in-One Platform For Gigging Musicians appeared first on Hypebot.

ALM/Busy Circuits announce the Stem Ripper ALM/Busy Circuits's latest Eurorack module allows users to record eight-channel multitracks directly from their modular rig without the need for any external equipment.

We called Baby Audio’s Smooth Operator Pro plugin a “must-try” – it’s now just £59 at Plugin BoutiquePlugin Boutique is running a sale on a range of Baby Audio plugins, including the Pro version of its Smooth Operator spectral signal balancer.
The plugin, which is essentially a souped-up EQ-compressor hybrid, received a glowing review from MusicTech this summer following its April launch, in which we called it a “must-try” for mixing and mastering engineers. It’s one of 11 deals currently active on Baby Audio products via Plugin Boutique.
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Currently down from its list price of £99, you can now get your hands on Smooth Operator Pro for just £59. The original launched back in 2021, but this newer upgraded version introduced a complete overhaul of its features, with a vast number of improvements guided by user feedback.
According to Baby Audio, these changes were implemented without “compromising on the fast workflow that made Smooth Operator 1 so popular”. On the whole, the plugin is made to remove the bloated frequency energy your tracks don’t need by eliminating mud, harsh resonances, and masking.
It helps you to fix specific problem areas with “surgical control”, or you can re-shape the tonal balance of a mix entirely. Users can simply set their desired target curve, then turn the global threshold knob until the plugin starts balancing the audio, or experiment with a range of optional deep settings for further control.

A number of other Baby Audio gems included in Plugin Boutique’s sale are its Crystalline reverb, now just £29, and its Super VHS multi-effects tool, which taps into the lo-fi tones of old synths and tapes (this is down to £23).
If you’d like to go all-out on a feast of Baby Audio goodies, there’s also a Complete Bundle available for £219 with a saving of £100. Inside, you’ll get access to all of its award-winning plugins, including Humanoid, Transit 2, BA-1, Atoms, and plenty more – including Smooth Operator Pro.
To view the full range of Baby Audio deals, head over to Plugin Boutique.
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How to get Teenage Engineering’s OP-XY at a discountThe Teenage Engineering OP-XY synthesiser workstation is notoriously pricey at a hefty $2,300, but we’ve seen a way you can get it for less via zZounds.
First introduced in November last year, the OP-XY is the successor to the Swedish brand’s OP-Z synth, described as an “all-in-one powerful synthesiser and composer with deep, direct sequencing capabilities”. It takes the advanced sequencing of the OP-Z and places it in a smaller enclosure, more similar to the brand’s OP-1.

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Although a sophisticated synth, its high price puts it out of reach for many music makers. We even compiled a guide to all the things you could buy for the same price or less – including all nine of Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators, an OP-1, an OP-Z, and an EP-133 K.O II for less than the sum of the mighty OP-XY.  Still, the OP-XY is beloved by many — it’s even received praise from Azealia Banks, who said she was “obsessed” with it in an Instagram post.
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If you’ve been holding out for a deal on the OP-XY, now’s the time. You can currently grab one for less via zZound’s open-box buyer’s option — these are listed only as like-new or in very good condition, so they make a perfect option if you want to get your hands on one, and you’re not bothered by cosmetics or packaging.
The OP-XY is available for $2,061 in like-new condition via zZounds, meaning only its packaging has been compromised. You can get it for even less at $1,944 in very good condition, which may have small scratches or scuffs – though still inclusive of all parts, the manual, and a full factory warranty.
You can refresh your memory on how it sounds below:

To find out more about the Teenage Engineering OP-XY or purchase one now, head over to zZounds.
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Red Timbre Audio GraphitiBring new life to your sample library with Graphiti, an analysis-based granular sampler and synthesizer for creating new instruments, textures, and foley. This innovative tool uses analysis and AI to organize sample audio into clusters of grains, creating a sonic space that you can explore intuitively by drawing paths to produce unique mashups of your sound library. Simply drag and drop your samples, select your analysis features, and let Graphiti paint you a picture. Crafted for musicians, sound designers, game developers, and foley artists, Graphiti embodies our commitment to creative audio software offering new ways to create and explore audio. YouTube.com/watch?v=uJ0j2wnFDDc Read More