FireSonic & United Plugins announce FireEQ FireSonic's new EQ plug-in offers some useful Mid-Side functionality and a simple one-knob control that makes quick work of adjusting the overall tonal balance of its output.

Apple cancels its car, Google’s AI goes awry and Bumble stumblesHello, folks, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s newsletter covering noteworthy happenings in the tech industry. This week, investment firm KKR announced that it would acquire VMware’s end-user computing business from Broadcom for $4 billion. As Ron explains, that business included VMware Workspace One and VMware Horizon — two remote desktop apps that had […]
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It’s a CoCo! No, it’s an Apple II!Original retrocomputing hardware is now decades old and showing its age, so the chances are it’s more common in 2024 to experience a machine from the 1970s or 1980s by way of an emulator on a modern machine than it is on the real hardware. There’s another more limited emulation scene as similar 8-bit machines emulate each other, for example when the very similar Dragon 32 and Tandy CoCo have a go at each other’s software. Rarest of them all though is when one classic machine emulates another with a different architecture, but that’s exactly what’s happened with [DragonBytes], who has persuaded a Tandy CoCo to emulate an Apple II.
The two machines have significant hardware differences, but we’re guessing that the project is helped a little by the Motorola 6809 in the CoCo and the MOS 6502 in the Apple having both in a sense been different visions of a successor to the Motorola 6800. Thus their architectures while different, are not diametrically opposed. The other hardware is certainly not so similar though, with Moto’s 6847 display chip in the Tandy being far more conventional than Steve Wozniak’s clever NTSC hacks to achieve a color display for minimal cost on the Apple.
The project is written in assembler, and doesn’t by any means claim to support all Apple modes, or be cycle accurate. But it’s a hugely impressive achievement nevertheless.
The CoCo has an enthusiastic following, and has appeared here a few times in the past. We particularly like this video player.

DIY Geophone Build Performs WellIf you want to know what’s going on with the ground, geologically speaking, a geophone is a great tool to have. It lets you listen in on the rumbles and grumbles beneath your feet, and can give you great insight into matters of seismic importance. [mircemk] has designed a very capable geophone that’s simple enough for you to build at home.
The geophone relies on a mass suspended upon a spring inside a chamber, which as you might imagine, will move when shaken by seismic vibrations. The mass is in fact a plastic rod, fitted with an iron nut and a magnet on the end.
This is mounted above a coil, which is fixed to the base of the chamber. Thus, when the chamber is shaken by seismic activity, the mass moves relative to the coil, with the coil picking up the varying magnetic field as it dances around.
The YouTube video does a great job of explaining the concepts involved and how to practically build the device. [mircemk] has also had some other great projects featured on Hackaday before, too.

Getting It Done – The Week in DIY & Indie Music: Indies rule Spotify • Show marketing • paid marketing • MoreThis week, our tips and advice for independent musicians covered how to impress music bloggers, market music on Spotify, and much more.....
The post Getting It Done – The Week in DIY & Indie Music: Indies rule Spotify • Show marketing • paid marketing • More appeared first on Hypebot.

REWIND: New music industry’s week in review – UMG vs TokTok • modern A&R • cassettes • moreLast week was a busy week by any definition, and the music industry was no exception, with ongoing TikTik troubles, A&R tactics, more on music AI, cassettes making a comeback, and more.....
The post REWIND: New music industry’s week in review – UMG vs TokTok • modern A&R • cassettes • more appeared first on Hypebot.

Focusrite lower ISA One & Two prices Focusrite have announced that two of their popular ISA preamps have had their prices permanently reduced. 

CCC Webinar: A.I., Creators, and The Future Of Copyright"Legal Update: AI, Creators, and The Future Of Copyright"Tuesday, March 12, 2024ZOOM WEBINAR2:30 PM PST - 4:00 PM PST

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The rapid emergence of AI technologies raises a host of issues, challenges, and perhaps opportunities for creators and rightsholders.  In this session, discuss transparency in identifying AI-generated v. human created music; whether and to what extent consent can be required to enable music to be exploited for AI training; how music licensing may be impacted by AI-generated works; how songwriters and composers can leverage AI in their creative works; and whether the copyright law is equipped to address the various legal issues that the emergence of AI has raised.Moderator: Wayne Josel | Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, ASCAP Panelists: Abby North | Principal, North  Music Group, LLCHenry W. Root, Esq. | Senior Partner, Counsel LLPLucas Cantor Santiago | Composer/Producer/AuthorShannon Sorensen | Senior Vice President, Legal & Business Affairs, NMPA

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Rabbit’s Jesse Lyu on the nature of startups: ‘Grow faster, or die faster,’ just don’t give upRabbit co-founder and CEO Jesse Lyu isn’t afraid of death… the death of the company, at least. He told TechCrunch that the company is a startup whose fortunes may be swayed by the whims of multi-billion-dollar rivals — but that’s no reason to give up and go home. Appearing on stage at StrictlyVC LA, Lyu […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Educational Arduino Clock Uses Analog Meters For DisplayWhen it comes to educational electronic projects, it’s hard to go past building a clock. You learn tons about everything from circuit concepts and assembly skills to insights about the very nature of time itself. And you get a clock at the end of it! [hamblin.joe] wanted to do a simple project for kids along these lines, so whipped up a neat design using analog meters to display the time.
The build relies on that old stalwart, the Arduino Uno, to run the show. It’s hooked up to a DS3231 real-time clock module so it can keep accurate time for long periods, as is befitting a clock. Displaying the time is done via the use of two analog meters, each fitted with a custom backing card. One displays hours, the other, minutes. The analog meters are simply driven by the PWM outputs of the Arduino.
It’s not a hugely complex project, but it teaches so much. It provides an opportunity to educate the builders about real-time clocks, microcontroller programming, and even the concepts behind pulse width modulation. To say nothing of the physical skills, like learning to solder or how to assemble the laser-cut enclosure. Ultimately, it looks like a really great way for [hamblin.joe] and his students to dive into the world of modern electronics.

Waves H-Comp Compressor Plugin Is FREE For 48 Hours!
Waves Audio and YouTuber Valentina Bilancieri offer the Waves H-Comp plugin for FREE for the next 48 hours. There’s really not much new to say about Waves H-Comp. It’s a classic Waves plugin that was released all the way back in 2009. We covered it numerous times here on Bedroom Producers Blog, most recently in [...]
View post: Waves H-Comp Compressor Plugin Is FREE For 48 Hours!

Build Yourself A Little Mangonel, You Deserve OneIf you’re of a certain age, you almost certainly learned about mangonels by playing Age of Empires II. Any intermediate player will tell you they are a powerful siege weapon that nevertheless cannot destroy trees (in game). However, why limit yourself to experiencing this capable siege engine in digital form? With the help of [Arry Koster’s] design, you can build a little mangonel of your very own!
A good-looking siege engine is, more often than not, a well-performing one.
The build is intended for a student or hobbyist audience, and is for a mangonel roughly the size of a shoebox. That’s big enough to have some fun, without being so large as to get you into trouble. The project also comes complete with a useful spreadsheet that lets you simulate the performance of a mangonel hurling a projectile so you can better understand the physics involved.
The mangonel is constructed out of wood, just as medieval examples were. The guide explains how to put the the design together, including the use of graphite to lubricate moving parts — a technique also used historically. Beyond building the siege weapon itself, there are also instructions on how to instrument it with an Arduino to measure its performance accurately.
The only thing this project is missing is a brilliant video of the titchy siege machine in action. We want to see it knocking down some appropriately-sized castles! If you happen to be building your own siege engines, miniature or otherwise, don’t hesitate to drop us a line. Do include some excellent footage of your antics, to boot!

Softube VCA Compressor plug-in currently free Softube have announced that their VCA Compressor plug-in will be available as a free download until 31 March 2024.

S Club at the OrpheumWho would guess the year would be 2023 and Aqua and S Club were back right?? You can leave that out haha. This was scheduled for Nov at the Dolby and they cancelled their 5 N America shows. Hopefully they'll do what Aqua did and come back again for a bigger tour. By way the met the incoming associate editor last night at Extreme. Had no clue Mark retired and you're the editor now. In my 12 years with MC never saw an associate editor move up. Glad it got to be you. Marks a legend and tough to have to follow.

“There ain’t no party like an S Club party,”  and it was quite a party at the Orpheum Theatre February 27th when S Club played the final show of their Good Times tour. This show was originally scheduled at the Dolby Theater in November along with four dates in Toronto, Boston, NYC, and Chicago were postponed to February. British Pop group S Club 7 was founded back in 1998  by Spice Girls’ manager Simon Fuller who was in attendance for this show. The group consisted of 4 female and 3 male vocalists: Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Hannah Spearritt, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara, and Rachel Stevens. In five years they released four albums with a number of hits and iconic music videos and had three tours. S Club 7 had four number one hits in the U.K. and another seven that were top five. The whole group would not reunite until 2012 for a medley of hits on a BBC Children in Need telethon and their greatest hits album was reissued. The group would tour one more time as all seven members only in the U.K. for their Bring it All Back Tour. 

S Club 7 first became S Club in 2002 when Cattermole departed the group and their fourth album Seeing Double was the only one to be released as S Club. Previously Cattermole, O’Meara, and McIntosh had performed as S Club 3 in 08. Just a year ago the group announced a two week anniversary tour that would take place in October. Sadly, Cattermole passed away at the age of 46 on April 6th and Spearitt decided to not take part in the reunion. S Club as a five piece released their first single in nearly 20 years “These Are The Days” as a tribute to Cattermole and the group’s legacy. The group worked with Musical Director/Keyboardist/Producer Simon Ellis on the single who was a producer on all but the group’s first album and worked with the Spice Girls on all their tours/performances through 2012. 

S Club, now a five piece, gave their first reunion show since 2015 October 12th, 2023 in Manchester England which would conclude October 27th in Liverpool, England. S Club kicked off their first ever North American tour February 16th in Toronto, Canada. Following the east coast dates, S Club made their way to Los Angeles, CA. The show kicked off just before 8:30 P.M. with the opening song being none other than “S Club Party '' and sure brought a lot of memories back for the audience who would have been in elementary or middle school when S Club 7 released their debut album. The 18 song set included all the hits like “Don’t Stop Moving,” “Two in a Million,” “Bring It All Back,” and “Reach”. McIntosh and Lee performed "Good Times" as a tribute to Cattermole. S Club returned for an encore of “Never Had a Dream Come True,” and “S Club Party” for a second time but as a remix and outro.

Producer remakes Daft Punk’s Face To Face with more recent samples — and it’s amazingJust when you thought Daft Punk’s Face To Face couldn’t get any more legendary, one producer on YouTube has given the 2001 track a jaw-dropping new spin.
The Daft Punk track, which was made in collaboration with UK garage icon Todd Edwards, was released on the duo’s sophomore album, Discovery album. The deep cut gained mythic status from devoted fans who later learned that it comprises over 70 samples. While many fans have attempted to recreate the song — with great success — producer Nickster’s approach is arguably more impressive than a direct reproduction.
Taking samples from 18 songs that are 30 years older than Daft Punk and Todd Edwards’s palette, Nickster cleverly weaves them into the same structure and tonality as Face To Face. Where Daft Punk samples Electric Light Orchestra’s Evil Woman, Nickster samples the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Can’t Stop; where Daft Punk use snippets from Alan Parsons Project, Nickster chops up Radiohead.
LCD Soundsystem, Boards of Canada, Oneohtrix Point Never, Lady Gaga, Caryl Rae Jepsen, Estelle and more are the crucial ingredients to this piece of wizardry. Of course, Todd Edwards’ vocal stem is laid over the top for the touch of authenticity.

The resulting track is, obviously, sonically different, but Nickster made some ideal choices to retain the essence of the original. Commenters have noticed “sharper, colder tones,” that defined the 00s indie rock sound in comparison to the warmer soul sounds of the ‘70s, where Daft Punk found their sounds.
“This is CRAZY good,” says another user. “Really keeps the spirit of the original and doesn’t shy away from getting technical and creative. What a love letter to sampling this is.”
“This is one of the most impressive and complex things in music I’ve seen,” reads another comment. “When I clicked on the video I was conflicted between curiosity and scepticism but you’ve definitely gained my respect.”
The hunt for Face to Face samples raged on for decades, with Todd Edwards helping to bring the saga to a close in 2023. In an Instagram post, the New Jersey-born producer shared the original sample files used in his recording session with Daft Punk. Around a similar time, another producer posted the full sample breakdown to YouTube.

But, even though the samples have been identified and put in all the right places, it seems evident that Face To Face is just one of those songs that’ll always inspire creativity.
 
The post Producer remakes Daft Punk’s Face To Face with more recent samples — and it’s amazing appeared first on MusicTech.