Rick Rubin’s secret music festival in Tuscany hosted performances by James Blake, Arcade Fire and Jack DorseyRarely do producers spiritually connect with music quite like Rick Rubin. Over the weekend, the producer celebrated such a connection between sound and nature, by hosting an intimate festival, under the Italian sunshine, to mark the start of the summer solstice.

READ MORE: “I was like, ‘Oh shit, this is actually a really good song!’”: Rick Rubin made Beabadoobee relearn all her demos on acoustic guitar before recording her new album

With only 150 invitations sent out, Rubin’s Festival Of The Sun was an incredibly under-the-radar affair. Hosted in a medieval village in Tuscany, the festival primarily took place in the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta church.

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Among the performers involved, electronic music artist James Blake made an appearance, while Beth Ditto performed alongside her band Gossip, and Arcade Fire‘s Win Butler and Régine Chassagne knocked out tracks.
There were also performances from DJ Cosmo Gonik, London-based cellist Lucinda Chua, and Michael Milosh’s one-man-band Rhye. Even Twitter founder Jack Dorsey performed, albeit a lecture titled ‘Tech and Freedom’. Movie director Andrew Dominik also held a screening of his 2019 Nick Cave documentary, This Much I Know to Be True.
Notable attendees also included Måneskin‘s Thomas Raggi and Ethan Torchio, as well as Italian rapper Ghali.
It’s no surprise Rubin was able to lure in such a diverse bunch of acts. Over his impressive career, the Def Jam records founder has worked with some of music’s finest, including heavy metal titans Metallica, nu-metal icons Linkin Park, hip-hop icons Jay-Z, Kanye West and Nas and even the dulcet tones of Adele. Most recently, Rubin produced indie darling Beabadoobee’s upcoming album This Is How Tomorrow Moves.
The majority of the festival was held inside the gorgeous church, but some acts took to a publicly accessible main stage outside. While the festival was exclusive, Variety reports that “access to the town’s main stage was open to the public free of charge.”
We’re unsure if Festival Of The Sun will remain a one-off, but Rubin has previously expressed interest in hosting festivals. In docu-series Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza, Perry Farrell revealed that Rubin wanted to buy Lollapalooza in 2004. “I don’t know why, but Rick Rubin decided to make an offer to me to buy the name for like a million dollars,” he explained. “I won’t tell you exactly how I put it, but I said no.”

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Reason 13 and Reason+ subscription: At almost 25 years old, does this DAW still cut it?Reason 13 £499, or £199 if upgrading from an earlier version
Reason+ subscription £1 for first month then £19.99/month
reasonstudios.com
When Reason debuted in 2000, it was a breath of fresh air. At a time when many DAWs could seem daunting, its hardware-style rack of virtual instruments let you to get hands-on with music production while learning at the same time. There were even virtual patch cables to connect devices together — and fun quirks like removable screws.
Its sequencer and mixer were similarly approachable and, although it’s evolved, Reason’s workflow remains much the same today. Is that enough, however, when the competition has also become so much more capable?

READ MORE: The best DAWs for music producers in all genres, styles and workflows

Having been away from Reason for a number of years, I spent some time with it to find out.
Reason license versus Reason+ Subscription
We have to start with the pricing model. You have two options: a one-off purchase of Reason 13 costing £499 giving you full access to the DAW and its core instruments and effects (known as Racks). If you bought Reason 12 after 1 January 2024 the upgrade is free, which doesn’t sit right with us. Reason Studios shouldn’t be dividing its customer base — if the company wants to reward Reason 12 buyers, it should reward them all regardless of purchase date. Considering the DAW is arguably more niche than the likes of Ableton Live, Logic Pro and FL Studio, it seems wrong to be alienating some of its customers in this way.
In any case, Reason Studios would prefer you to sign up for the Reason+ subscription, which starts at £1 a month, and then moves up to £20. This sub includes Reason 13, plus major updates like Reason 14, and gives you access to all Rack devices and sound packs, while the buyout option omits a number of modules compared to the subscription version. This is the best option if you want to try Reason out for a short while, and is perfect for new or casual music producers exploring what software to use.
But, over a number of years that monthly subscription fee will really add up. Ideally, Reason Studios would offer the full feature set to those buying Reason outright, as well as to subscribers which would seem like a fairer deal. Besides, if subscriptions as a concept really bother you, neither Logic, Cubase or Ableton Live currently use them.
Reason 13 browser
How to use Reason 13
Getting set up is easy, with a companion app managing your authorisations and downloads of the sound banks, Rack devices and additional sound packs if you’ve opted for the subscription.
Reason’s interface is quite unusual, defaulting to a multi-pane window within which you can show, hide and resize the mixer, rack and sequencer sections. There’s also a Devices list from which you can drag and drop instruments and effects into the Rack, including any VST plugins installed on your system.
Reason 13’s Browser lets you intuitively search quickly for any patches, loops or samples within sound banks or on your system. Bundled content is pre-tagged and you can edit tags for any item, as well as using category tabs and your own folder shortcuts to find things swiftly. There’s also auto-play of selected items which is helpful. The Browser is similar to Cubase’s MediaBay, and is a significant improvement on previous versions.
Because Reason shows you its various tools within a single window, the interface can get quite busy. But it is possible to detach the main mixer and rack sections to any additional monitor screens you have, making for a far less fraught workflow.
Reason 13 mixer
A change in 13 is that the sequencer will now split its Edit view into a new area so you can see your arrangement and the data being edited at the same time, just like Ableton Live, Cubase and others. There’s also a dark mode, if that’s to your liking.
Reason’s devices are pretty cool, with the developers adding new models while keeping the beloved original ones. There are synths and samplers, drum machines, loop players and a wealth of mixing and special effects. There are a few new devices in 13; Polytone is a warm analogue synth, Ripley a classic-sounding space delay, while new sidechain, gain and stereo tools boost your mixing toolset.
Then there are clever tools like the Combinator that lets you build multi-instrument and effect modules in a single container, Player instruments that generate MIDI, and utility devices for routing audio and MIDI creatively. All these can be freely routed by spinning the Rack around and patching cables which was, and remains, an incredibly powerful strength of this DAW.
There’s audio tracking too, with automatic time- and pitch-stretching, audio slicing and quantis. Reason’s audio editing features aren’t as deep as Cubase or Logic Pro, but they’re adequate for most users’ needs. You can’t get into very fine-detailed, sample-level manipulation of sound and its range of processing options is more limited, but if that’s not an issue for you, you’ll find the tools it does have are quick and effective to use. Automation is also straightforward, even though you can automate practically every single one of the thousands of parameters available to you.

Reason 13 rack
What is Reason Rack?
An interesting feature that Reason has had for a few years is that a version of the software – its Rack, minus the mixer and sequencer, can be used as a VST3 and AU plugin inside another host.
Load it up as a software instrument in another DAW and you’ll see its Rack and full complement of modules available to use as a source. None of the mixing or sequencing stuff is there since this would probably be overkill (although FL Studio uses it when in plugin mode) so you’re really just accessing all the sounds from another DAW.
There are plugin suites and bundles around that also let you add loads of modules to a DAW, like Arturia’s V Collection at £300, but Reason’s Rack is more varied in terms of the selection of types of modules it provides.
Reason is different to other DAWs. There are some big omissions when compared to Logic Pro and Cubase Pro, both of which cost less than Reason 13 at full price. There are no tools for working with surround, no scoring support, no video support, and no integrated support for working via the cloud. The depth of MIDI and audio editing tools is also limited in comparison.
Reason 13 sequencer
Despite that, Reason is a lot of fun to work with and more than capable of producing professional quality tracks. Its workflow encourages experimentation and the cabling system that’s been there from the start remains a strength. It has everything you need to play, program, mix and edit music and the whole approach – drag and drop modules, load up a sound, tweak, drag some effects and so on – is user-friendly in a way that most DAWs cannot quite match. That comes at the cost of a more streamlined feature set, but the content is strong (with the subscription version especially) and the integration of the sounds with other DAWs via plugin mode is genuinely useful.
Should you get Reason or Reason+?
For some people, Reason alone can be a creative studio for end-to-end music-making, especially since it can access your third-party plugin collection. Its strengths are its intuitive workflow, sound design and easy sequencing.
You may not abandon your existing DAW for Reason but its unique approach to sound design and its user-friendly sequencer make it a fine companion; an alternative way to compose and build tracks. And though the plugin mode isn’t as tight an integration as ReWire was – you could stream audio and MIDI between both DAWs for deeper manipulation — it can still capably complement your main DAW.
The £499 purchase is a hard sell compared to the subscription. It sadly has fewer Rack devices and is pricier than competing DAWs — though this feels like it’s by design. On the flip side, by taking the subscription option with its full set of sounds, you get to see how Reason fits into your workflow over a period of time without the big initial payment, so it might suit you well. After all, the launch offer of £1 for the first month means there’s no reason not to give it a try.

Reason 13 audio edit
Key features

Standalone DAW for Mac and PC
Wide selection of Rack instruments, effects and utilities
Supports VST plugins and works as a plugin in other DAWs
Audio recording, time and pitch stretching
Virtual cable routing system
New tag-based browser
5 new Rack modules
ReGroove MIDI system
Flexible window system
ReMote MIDI mapping system

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“I began to feel like I had no control over the whole thing”: Imogen Heap on making an AI voice modelImogen Heap has constantly been ahead of the curve when it comes to technological innovation in music. So, now that she’s returning from a 10-year hiatus, it seems fitting that she’s diving into the world of AI.
In April, she released her first remix using her AI voice model, ai.mogen, collaborating with Slovakian alt-pop singer Karin Ann on  false gold. Heap made the remix alone but her vocals were made by an AI model that she developed with her team.
In an interview with MusicRadar, Heap revealed that she’d had numerous offers from companies to make an AI  model of her voice. “They knew that I’m interested in technology, and they knew my answer probably wouldn’t be a flat no,” she tells the outlet.
Her excitement was dampened, however, by the list of caveats and terms and conditions attached to the offers. “I began to feel like I had no control over the whole thing. Everybody kept saying how hard it is to create an AI voice model… but I just thought, it can’t be that hard.”
Heap turned the offers down and worked with an audio engineer on an open-source model, which they trained on recordings from throughout her career. “You know what? It came out pretty good,” Heap says. “After that, I was feeling more empowered, like I had a leg to stand on.”

Heap fed the entirety of false gold through ai.mogen, working with over twenty instrumental and vocal stems. “It was the weirdest thing, but it sounded amazing,” she enthuses. “It was my voice trying to sing the kick and snare, the bassline, the keys. My voice became a kind of aura surrounding everything and it really decided the direction I wanted to take the remix.”
The artist is also asked whether she’ll ever use ai.mogen’s text-generation capabilities to write song lyrics. “I mean… yeah? Perhaps I wouldn’t use her because there are other services out there that do a much better job right now,” she says. “If someone wanted to generate something in the style of my lyrics that would be fine, though I would like to be credited at some point.”
She also has plans to expand ai.mogen’s capabilities to eventually become a songwriting and production assistant. “Every single scrap of unused or used audio that I ever create goes into a folder,” she says. “We’re preparing to semantically describe all of it so that, in the future, I can come into my studio and Mogen will say ‘may I suggest this thing that you created in 1998 and as good a place to start?'”
Elsewhere in the interview, she discusses some of the issues AI poses in the music industry, particularly unauthorised voice models. “It does worry me. I will eventually release ai.mogen so that everyone can use it, but I don’t want my voice to say hateful things. So, I need to find a way to do it on acceptable terms.”
She adds: ““I’m in the middle of creating an app that enables musicians to train their own vocal models with privacy and security. The hope is that we can educate and protect people and help them feel a bit more in control of their voice.”
Read more music technology news.
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Creative sound design with mix correction pluginsThe music production world is awash with mix correction plugins, with many using ground-breaking AI that can take a less-than-stellar vocal recording from dud to ‘dude!’ with the click of a button. Elsewhere, de-reverb and stem separation software can pull active sonic elements from a finished track. However, have you ever wondered if they could be used in less corrective and more creative ways? Long answer short: they sure can.

READ MORE: 12 best stem separation software for vocals, ranked

You can use a variety of correction plugins as part of the sound design process. While many will yield crunchy and funky lo-fi artefacts, others can elicit unexpected — and extremely useful — results.
This tutorial heads into experimental territory so be sure to don your cleanest lab coat. You may want to have a few beakers of your favourite spirits on hand as well to encourage out-of-the-box thinking. And don’t worry: if you make a mess, just fix it with the same plugin!
Lossy melodies with stem separation
Stem separation is a popular and powerful type of correction software that splits a piece of audio up into its constituent parts — drums, bass, vocals — and lets you work them individually. RipX DAW Pro from Hit’n’Mix does one better, turning the stems into malleable audio that you can adjust on a per-note basis. What happens if you feed it just a single instrument, like a marimba line with baked-in delay effects?
Start by loading your audio into RipX DAW Pro. It will do its thing, analyzing the audio and then separating it out into individual notes. Move the pieces of audio up and down the piano roll to create a new melody, deleting unnecessary ones as you go. There are a number of pitch effects as well, such as Pitch to Scale, Quantize Pitch and Flatten Pitch. Play around with these until you end up with something you like. Finally, bounce it out and import it into your main DAW project.
While RipX DAW Pro does have a Repair section to reduce artefacts, you can ignore this for this technique. After all, swimmy, low-bit MP3 effects are gaining popularity thanks to plugins such Goodhertz Lossy and Lese Codec. It’s an extreme effect but could be just what your next lo-fi creation needs.

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Transient enhancing with de-reverb
De-reverb plugins are a handy way to remove room sound from vocals, particularly recordings for interviews and podcasts. However, there’s no rule saying they can’t be used on other types of material.
In this example, the De-reverb module from iZotope’s RX 10 Elements does its best to clean up the reverb from a noisy tambourine loop. By tweaking the controls, you can emphasise the transient attack of the tambourine — the portion when the hand strikes the skin — and bring out some lo-fi artefacts in the process.
First, click the Learn button and let the in-built AI listen to the signal. Next, bring up the Reduction slider and adjust the different frequency bands in the Reverb Profile until you’ve brought out the strike of the tambourine. Engage the Enhance dry signal button for a more pronounced effect. Try lowering the Artifact smoothing slider to bring out lo-fi goodness. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!

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Transient smoothing with de-click
In the same way that de-reverb can remove the sustain portion of a signal, so can de-clicking take away the transient. Here, RX 10 Elements De-click from iZoptope is confusing the attack potion of a clave in a loop with a click and doing its best to wipe it away.
Start by placing De-click on the track you want to affect. It’s a pretty simple plugin; just bring up the Sensitivity slider until the transient is suitably smooshed. Try using the Click widening control and changing the algorithm for different results.
For an extreme lo-fi effect, try strapping De-click across an entire drum bus.

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Psychedelic drums with vocal processing plugins
Designed to correct pitch imperfections, vocal processing plugins can work wonders on the human voice. But can they be used on non-vocal material? Percussion sounds tend to not have much pitch information — sounds like the perfect opportunity for experimentation.
While full-on pitch correction like Auto-Tune might not have too much of an effect, there are plenty more plugins in Antares’ Auto-Tune Unlimited suite that do, such as Choir.
Auto-Tune Choir, as the name suggests, is a vocal multiplier. Instead of voices, try running percussion through it, like this conga loop. Turning up the Choir Size to 32 voices creates a psychedelic and tightly delayed drum line. Use the controls in the Variation section – Vibrato, Pitch and Timing – to further tweak out the drums. Results are sure to be unique and unexpected.

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Drum loop tightening with drum removal technology
It may seem paradoxical but slapping a drum removal plugin onto a drum bus can result in some surprisingly useful results. Tightening, levelling and punch-ifying are all possible with judicious use of the technology.
Zynaptiq’s Unmix::Drums is a top-quality plugin for removing or reducing the level of drums in mixed stems. When you put it on a drum bus or percussion loop, as in this example, you can make some interesting adjustments.
Start with the big Drum Level control in the middle and fine-tune it until you have a nice balance of punch and room sound. Use the Attack and Release controls to affect the transient and tail. In the Fine-Tune area, bring up the Bass Synth slider to add power back to the kick drum, if necessary. Finally, engage the compressor and limiter functions at the top for extra punch.

Learn more at https://musictech.com/learn/.
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The Doobie Brothers at the Forum, Los AngelesLegendary rock band the Doobie Brothers played the KIA Forum on Sunday night and it was their first time at that venue in three years. For the first half of the tour, blues legend Robert Cray opened the show, and the second half will see Steve Winwood take over. 

Back in 2019, to celebrate the Doobie Brothers' 50th Anniversary, the group announced a tour with Michael McDonald to take place in 2020 which had been postponed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2020 also happened to be the year that the Doobie Brothers were finally inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame along with McDonald.

Before the pandemic, they had most recently played the KIA Forum in 2018 with Steely Dan and in 2017 with Chicago. The Doobie Brothers also played Classic West at Dodger Stadium in 2017. The Doobie Brothers have gone through a number of lineup changes over their 50 year history but have always included founding members Tom Johnston (Guitar/Vocals) and Pat Simmons (Guitar/Vocals).

From 1971 to 2016, there had always been two drummers in the group, but in 2016 Ed Toth, who joined in 2005 (Vertical Horizon), became the sole drummer and in 2018, former Allman Brothers percussionist Marc Quinones joined the group.

In the past decade, there was another lineup change when Guy Allison, the group’s keyboardist of nearly 20 years, left the group and former Little Feat. Keyboardist Bill Payne joined from 2015-2021. The Doobie Brothers also include John McFee (guitar/violin/harmonica), who was a member from 1979-1982 and joined again in 1993. 

Bassist John Cowan was a member from 1993-1995 and then again starting in 2010. Since 1998, Marc Russo has been the sax player. McDonald joined in 1975 and in the seven years he was a member until the band split up. In that time the group released four of their biggest selling albums. McDonald had a majorly successful solo career following the end of the group and has appeared with the Doobie Brothers on and off since they reformed in 1987, and this is the longest tour he's had with Johnston and Simmons in around 40 years.  

The Doobie Brothers played a set of 19 songs, full of hits. The Doobie Brothers had over 30 charting singles. A Doobie Brothers show is all about the music and no special effects or guests. The set was all Doobie Brothers songs rather than including songs from McDonald's highly successful solo career. The last time they played the KIA Forum, it took place just a week after the release of their first album in seven years Liberte, but it was their first release with McDonald since One Step Closer (1980) with the exception of Southbound in 2014 which was a duets album of the group’s classics. 

The opening song was “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While).” Other hits included “It Keeps You Runnin’,” “Minute By Minute,” and “Jesus Is Just Alright." McDonald wad featured on songs "Minute By Minute," "What a Fool Believes," and "Takin' It to the Streets." I would call the last seven songs the sing-a-long portion of the show since they spaced out some hits earlier.

Three of those songs made up the encore. McFee delivered an outstanding harmonica solo for “Long Train Runnin’” and also included a drum/percussion solo from Toth and Quinones. Throughout the show, McFee played several instruments including guitar, pedal steel guitar, harmonica, and for “”Black Water” played the fiddle. McDonald played both keyboard and organ. The second to last song of the encore was “Takin’ It to the Streets,” which started with an extended saxophone and keyboard intro between McDonald and Russo. The final song of the evening was a song that can always make people happy, "Listen to the Music.”

The post The Doobie Brothers at the Forum, Los Angeles first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Denis Ladegaillerie’s consortium now owns 94.99% of Believe, as ex-Shazam boss joins company boardFour months after Ladegaillerie launched bid with EQT and TCV, we're nearly at the finish line
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A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffsThe tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the first months of 2024. Smaller-sized […]
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Why is Bitcoin price down today?The Bitcoin price is down today, hitting a 6-week low as BTC ETF outflow ramps up and traders anticipate selling intensifying in July.

Audius signs licensing deals with ASCAP, BMI, GMR and SESACThe artist-centric streaming platform Audius has signed licensing agreements with all four U.S. Performing Rights Organizations (PROs): ASCAP, BMI, GMR, and SESAC. Songwriters whose songs are played on Audius will. Continue reading
The post Audius signs licensing deals with ASCAP, BMI, GMR and SESAC appeared first on Hypebot.

An Easy Transparent Edge Lit DisplayDisplays are crucial to modern life; they are literally everywhere. But modern flat-panel LCDs and cheap 7-segment LED displays are, well, a bit boring. When we hackers want to display the progress of time, we want something more interesting, hence the plethora of projects using Nixie tubes and various incantations of edge-lit segmented units. Here is [upir] with their take on the simple edge-lit acrylic 7-segment design, with a great video explanation of all the steps involved.
Engraving the acrylic sheets by hand using 3D printed stencils
The idea behind this concept is not new. Older displays of this type used tiny tungsten filament bulbs and complex light paths to direct light to the front of the display. The modern version, however, uses edge-lit panels with a grid of small LEDs beneath each segment, which are concealed within a casing. This design relies on the principle of total internal reflection, created by the contrast in refractive indices of acrylic and air. Light entering the panel from below at an angle greater than 42 degrees from normal is entirely reflected inside the panel. Fortunately, tiny LEDs have a wide dispersion angle, so if they are positioned close enough to the edge, they can guide sufficient light into the panel. Once this setup is in place, the surface can be etched or engraved using a CNC machine or a laser cutter. A rough surface texture is vital for this process, as it disrupts some of the light paths, scattering and directing some of it sideways to the viewer. Finally, to create your display, design enough parallel-stacked sheets for each segment of the display—seven in this case, but you could add more, such as an eighth for a decimal point.
How you arrange your lighting is up to you, but [upir] uses an off-the-shelf ESP32-S3 addressable LED array. This design has a few shortcomings, but it is a great start—if a little overkill for a single digit! Using some straightforward Arduino code, one display row is set to white to guide light into a single-segment sheet. To form a complete digital, you illuminate the appropriate combination of sheets. To engrave the sheets, [upir] wanted to use a laser cutter but was put off by the cost. A CNC 3018 was considered, but the choice was bewildering, so they just went with a hand-engraving pick, using a couple of 3D printed stencils as a guide. A sheet holder and light masking arrangement were created in Fusion 360, which was extended into a box to enclose the LED array, which could then be 3D printed.
If you fancy an edge-lit clock (you know you do) check out this one. If wearables are more your thing, there’s also this one. Finally, etched acrylic isn’t anywhere near as good as glass, so if you’ve got a vinyl cutter to hand, this simple method is an option.

Moog is reportedly discontinuing the Moog One polyphonic analogue synthThe Moog One polyphonic analogue synthesizer has reportedly been discontinued, according to Belgian music instrument retailer Turnlab.
Introduced in 2018, the Moog One was the brand’s first analogue polysynth in over three decades. Its release marked a significant milestone, combining Moog’s heritage designs with powerful architecture and highly advanced features. With over 200 knobs and switches on its front panel, the synth has been described as a “dynamic conduit for the expression of one’s own unique creative voice.” And it certainly looks the part.

READ MORE: Beetlecrab Tempera: “As soon as we placed our hand on the grid and played a chord, we knew immediately, ‘Okay, this is it’”

Turnlab announced the news via Instagram, writing: “Moog One is now Discontinued (EOL) Still want one of these beauties? We still have a very limited stock!”.
The retailer has also responded to users in the comment section, confirming that both the eight and sixteen-voice models will be discontinued. Neither Moog nor inMusic (which acquired Moog in 2023) has released an official statement on the discontinuation at the time of writing.

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Among the Moog One’s most celebrated users are Flying Lotus, Flume, Skrillex, Arca, Suzanne Ciani, Jean-Michel Jarre, Jamiroquai’s Matt Johnson, and Lisa Bella Donna. Screenwriter and comedian Duncan Trussell has also appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast to express his love for the Moog One and other Moog products. “It would be fucking cool if you started playing the Moog One,” Trussell said to Rogan.

MusicTech has reached out to Moog for comment, with a response pending.
Although the Moog One may no longer be available, Moog is still looking to future projects. Last month, the American synth maker debuted the Spectravox, a semi-modular analogue synth that specialises in spectral processing.
Moog said that the Spectravox is more than just a synthesizer, and is “an exploration and expansion of the traditional vocoder and filter bank topology, engineered to inspire and transform the landscape of modern music production”.

 
Earlier this year, Moog announced it is moving out of its famous home on Broadway Street in Asheville, North Carolina, where it has resided since 2011. The move came shortly after the brand’s acquisition by inMusic, which also owns Akai, Alesis, M-Audio, Numark, and others, and it was reported that most of its synths would be manufactured in Taiwan moving forward.
Read more music technology news.
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Virgin Music Group, Island sign agreement with Carín León’s Socios Music to release new materialThe first release under the new partnership has already resulted in León’s best first-week album debut to date
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“Human-created works must be respected”: 50 major music tech brands sign Principles for Music Creation with AIOver fifty global music technology companies and associations have penned their support for Roland and UMG’s Principles for Music Creation with AI. Per the principles, the participating companies advocate for the responsible use of AI in music creation, to “protect the essence of music — its human spirit”.
BandLab Technologies, Splice, Beatport, Focusrite, Output, LANDR, Waves, Eventide, Native Instruments, NAMM, Sequential, Oberheim and more have united in a bid to protect the rights of musicians as the industry sees an acceleration of generative AI tech.
The guidelines were established to encourage key figures in the music technology space to be mindful of the potential risks of AI. In a statement, AIformusic says that it’s crucial to responsibly manage the impact of machine learning tools and adhere to the Principles to ensure that the music industry is protecting the integrity of artists. Still, it adds, it acknowledges that AI can be an empowering tool for musicians and creators when applied with caution.
The statement continues to say that the alignment of music industry leaders “cannot be understated and plays an invaluable role in shaping a responsible future for AI in music creation.”
AIformusic also says it “strongly encourages” further organisations and brands around the globe to endorse the principles, as the
The seven Principles for Music Creation with AI are as follows:

“We believe music is central to humanity.”
“We believe humanity and music are inseparable.”
“We believe that technology has long supported human artistic expression, and applied sustainably, AI will amplify human creativity.”
“We believe that human-created works must be respected and protected.”
“We believe that transparency is essential to responsible and trustworthy AI.”
“We believe the perspectives of music artists, songwriters, and other creators must be sought after and respected.”
“We are proud to help bring music to life.”

BandLab Technologies CEO and co-founder Meng Ru Kuok says of the principles, “We are at a pivotal moment in the evolution of music creation. As leaders, it is our responsibility to thoughtfully ensure that AI supports artists and respects their creative integrity. As we develop new tools, we must remember that technology is at its best when it enhances, not overshadows, human creativity.”
Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava adds, “AI brings new opportunities to our industry and many musicians are being inspired by these tools. But this is a critical time to support responsibility around new technology and respect for the rights of creators everywhere. This is about the human at the center.”
“As with all technologies, the Focusrite Group desires to see AI become another toolset to further the creativity of artists vs. a threat to our industry,” said Focusrite PLC CEO Tim Carroll. “We are proud to support AI For Music and to do our part to help ensure this technology is used in a responsible manner.”
Earlier today, the RIAA announced that it had filed a lawsuit against AI music generation platforms Udio and Suno, with the plaintiffs including Sony Entertainment Music, Warner Records, and Universal Music Group. The lawsuit seeks damages of up to $150,00 for each piece of infringed work, and to stop the two AI companies from training on the label’s copyrighted songs.
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“A lot of time was spent trying to make it perfect”: The Chemical Brothers on ‘Surrender’ 25 years laterThe Chemical Brothers have looked back on their experience making their landmark album Surrender, 25 years on from its release.

READ MORE: The Chemical Brothers live review: Trailblazing electronic duo’s rave spectacle lights up London’s O2 Arena

Tom Rowlands, one half of the electronic music duo, spoke to DJ Mag about the quarter-century milestone of their third album, which arrived as dance music was exploding around the turn of the millennium.
“I sometimes think that the record you make is the reaction to the last one,” Rowlands says. “We’d really chased after something with ‘Dig Your Own Hole’, and we’d kind of got that. ‘Surrender’ was going to open things up to be a more collaborative work. When we started, we were driven by the excitement of coming off the last album and feeling we could do anything, really.”
Rowlands also identifies that the record “has a sheen to it” and was the product of the duo becoming “obsessed” with making what they considered to be the perfect version of an album.

“A lot of time was spent trying to make it perfect. Whereas other music we’ve made, we spent a lot of time making it imperfect. This was us trying to make something that just felt right, as soon as you heard it.”
He continues: “It was a time when we were trying to squeeze in everything we liked about music, everything we wanted to say with our music, trying to get all these elements of our band in one record that didn’t feel disjointed or bolted together.”
“All our records are influenced by our first connection with acid house, and everything within that – the sort of intoxicating feeling that we had when we first found dance music,” he continues. “Obviously we were going out a lot and we were playing live a lot, and I suppose we were playing bigger stages. It’s almost like a sort of feedback loop for us: when we’re DJing or when we’re playing live, some of the music gets really influenced by where we imagine playing it.”
Featuring huge singles including Hey Boy Hey Girl, Let Forever Be, Music:Response and Out Of Control, Surrender sold over 2.3 million copies worldwide in the 25 years since its release.
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Build Your Own Core Rope Memory Module?[Luizão] wanted to create some hardware to honour the memory of the technology used to put man on the moon and chose the literal core of the project, that of the hardware used to store the software that provided the guidance. We’re talking about the magnetic core rope memory used in the Colossus and Luminary guidance computers. [Luizão] didn’t go totally all out and make a direct copy but instead produced a scaled-down but supersized demo board with just eight cores, each with twelve addressable lines, producing a memory with 96 bits.
The components chosen are all big honking through-hole parts, reminiscent of those available at the time, nicely laid out in an educational context. You could easily show someone how to re-code the memory with only a screwdriver to hand; no microscope is required for this memory. The board was designed in EasyEDA, and is about as simple as possible. Being an AC system, this operates in a continuous wave fashion rather than a pulsed operation mode, as a practical memory would. A clock input drives a large buffer transistor, which pushes current through one of the address wires via a 12-way rotary switch. The cores then act as transformers. If the address wire passes through the core, the signal is passed to the secondary coil, which feeds a simple rectifying amplifier and lights the corresponding LED. Eight such circuits operate in parallel, one per bit. Extending this would be easy.

Obviously, we’ve covered the Apollo program a fair bit. Here’s a fun tale about recovering the guidance software from the real hardware. Like always, the various space programs create new technologies that we mere mortals get to use, such as an auto-dialling telephone.
(video in Brazilian Portuguese)