3 SOL data points suggest $130 was the bottom: Is it time for a return to range highs?Charts and onchain data suggest that SOL might have bottomed at $130. Should traders anticipate a rally back to $200?

Baby Shark creator Pinkfong’s shares soar, fall back to earth in stock market debutThe company that made a fortune in preschooler content now aims for an audience of older kids and teens
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Casting Metal Tools With Kitchen AppliancesPerhaps the biggest hurdle to starting a home blacksmithing operating is the forge. There’s really no way around having a forge; somehow the metal has to get hot enough to work. Although we might be imagining huge charcoal- or gas-fired monstrosities, [Shake the Future] has figured out how to use an unmodified, standard microwave oven to get iron hot enough to melt and is using it in his latest video to cast real, working tools with it.
In the past, [Shake the Future] has made a few other things with this setup like an aluminum pencil with a graphite core. This time, though, he’s stepping up the complexity a bit with a working tool. He’s decided to build a miniature bench vice, which uses a screw to move the jaws. He didn’t cast the screw, instead using a standard size screw and nut, but did cast the two other parts of the vice. He first 3D prints the parts in order to make a mold that will withstand the high temperatures of the molten metal. With the mold made he can heat up the iron in the microwave and then pour it, and then with some finish work he has a working tool on his hands.
A microwave isn’t the only kitchen appliance [Shake the Future] has repurposed for his small metalworking shop. He also uses a standard air fryer in order to dry parts quickly. He works almost entirely from the balcony of his apartment so he needs to keep his neighbors in mind while working, and occasionally goes to a nearby parking garage when he has to do something noisy. It’s impressive to see what can be built in such a small space, though. For some of his other work be sure to check out how he makes the crucibles meant for his microwave.

New Study Reveals 87% of Producers Already Use AI Tools in Their Creative ProcessIt’s no secret that AI music-making tools have made their way into the music production zeitgeist. Whether assistive or fully generative, AI is now capable of helping more and more people make music. But are artists actually using it? A study by LANDR suggests that they are.

ASM unveil the Diosynth The Diosynth is ASM’s take on a wind synthesizer, and is said to combine the expressiveness of acoustic instruments with the power of the company's renowned Hydrasynth engine.

Lotus Sound Audio releases FREE White Chamber Mk3 analog-style delay plugin
Lotus Sound Audio releases White Chamber Mk3, a FREE analog-style delay plugin for macOS and Windows White Chamber Mk3 picks up where the previous release left off, with a few noteworthy upgrades. If you’re new to Lotus Sound Audio, you can check out some of the Swiss-based developer’s previous releases, like Silver Fox Mk2, LA2-Fox, [...]
View post: Lotus Sound Audio releases FREE White Chamber Mk3 analog-style delay plugin

Toybox FM ZoneFM Zone (Version 2) is an easy-to-use polyphonic synthesiser plugin with sophisticated FM and sample engines and a bank of flexible multi-segment envelopes to shape the sound in any direction you desire. Perfect for huge FM basses and cutting leads The synthesiser features two powerful engines that can be layered together for a variety of complex sounds and textures. The 'Synth' engine features a powerful FM engine with a variety of 'special' operator types (FM, supersaw, additive, physical modelling etc) for expressive, harmonically-rich timbres. The 'Sample' engine can be used to mix additional textures or attacks samples over the sound. Read More

Antelope Audio’s Zenith 2 interface “bridges the gap between million-dollar studios and bedroom setups”Antelope Audio has unveiled Zenith 2, a new entry-level audio interface which aims to “bridge the gap between multi-million-dollar studios and bedroom setups”.
At just $299/€299, Zenith 2 arrives as Antelope Audio’s most affordable audio interface yet, pairing decades of audio expertise from Antelope with a super simplistic and effortless mode of operation.

READ MORE: BandLab’s Membership drops to its lowest price ever for Black Friday

At its core, the Zenith 2 features state-of-the-art AD/DA converters with 32-bit/192 kHz resolution and up to 123 dB of dynamic range, two discrete six-transistor mic preamps with 75 dB of gain – the same as those in Antelope Audio’s flagship Orion Studio interface – as well as integrated real-time DSP processing, with a Tube-Opto Compressor, Sky EQ and De-Esser at your disposal.
Antelope Audio also promises that each onboard DSP effect will be suffer zero perceptible latency, making it perfect for musicians, podcasters or streamers who rely on sharp, reliable tech to keep things running smoothly.

For live content, the Zenith 2 boasts built-in Loopback, seamlessly blending mic, music and stream audio. You can also monitor your sound via two independent headphone outs, each with its own dedicated volume control, as well as gain to drive high-impedance headphones. In terms of further I/O, there’s a stereo TRS monitor out, as well as a 5-pin MIDI input.
Elsewhere, the Zenith 2 boasts class-compliant, USC-C bus-powered connectivity for driver-free usage across Mac, Windows, iOS and Android devices. There’s also custom low-latency Mac and Windows drivers available, as and when required.
The Zenith 2 is available to pre-order now for $299. First shipments are expected in December 2025.
Learn more at Antelope Audio.
The post Antelope Audio’s Zenith 2 interface “bridges the gap between million-dollar studios and bedroom setups” appeared first on MusicTech.

NTS Thrives in the Spaces That Streaming Leaves BehindFrom our friends at MIDiA Research, a story about online radio and community building through NTS' Don’t Assume Day.
The post NTS Thrives in the Spaces That Streaming Leaves Behind appeared first on Hypebot.

Grant Applications Now Open for Family Alliance in Music SupportThe FAM Support Grant is open now through Dec. 1, offering $25,000 to help individuals and small businesses balance caregiving responsibilities while working in music.
The post Grant Applications Now Open for Family Alliance in Music Support appeared first on Hypebot.

Origin Effects launch the Bassrig Fifteen The Bassrig Fifteen features an all-analoguge signal path and promises to deliver the full experience of playing through one of the world's most praised studio bass amps.

Get the Sonic Academy SA76 Compressor for FREE when you share a freebie with a friend
Sonic Academy SA76 is a 1176-style compressor plugin for macOS and Windows. Thanks to a clever points workaround discovered by the BPB community, you can grab it for (practically) free right now. Yesterday, we covered the free JU-60 chorus, but it turns out that the far more exciting freebie might be hiding just behind it. [...]
View post: Get the Sonic Academy SA76 Compressor for FREE when you share a freebie with a friend

How I turned my DAW into an improv partner while producing my jazz albumThe jazz scene in my hometown of Manchester is open-minded and always evolving, but I discovered the genre while making hip-hop instrumentals and passing them to friends. I was listening to J Dilla, Madlib and Pete Rock, tracing those samples back to Ahmad Jamal, Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans. Jazz crept in that way – through the sampler. Eventually, I stopped digging for other people’s records and thought, ‘What if I could just record the thing I wanted to sample?’

READ MORE: Pianist Matt Wilde’s Prophet Rev2 provided the “secret sauce” for his debut album

That idea became the heart of my new album Find a Way. I wasn’t chasing a “jazz record” or an “electronic record”; instead, I took elements from those genres and discovered that there’s a lot more crossover in improvisation and music production than I first thought.

Capturing raw material
Most tracks started the same way: I’d sit at the Rhodes Mk1 that I restored, or my Yamaha U1, hit record in Ableton Live and play whatever came to mind for a long stretch. Afterwards, I’d pull out the phrases that felt good and build around them.
My Prophet Rev2, meanwhile, sparked the title track. I set up a repeating sequence with slow modulation so it never felt static, then wrote harmony against that pattern. Ableton’s Session View makes that approach natural, so I could launch ideas, record everything into Arrangement, and improvise first, edit later.
Image courtesy of Matt Wilde
Why drums took over
I recorded live drums for the album (the drummer, Oscar Ogden, was incredible), but once I began shaping tracks, I found myself programming the drum parts. Not to replace the human element, but to explore a more intricate, loop-based language with its own nuance. I still used bits of the live takes, resampled and chopped, yet programming became the focus
My main engine was XLN Audio’s Addictive Drums. The Vintage Dead and Dry kits sit perfectly with the Rhodes, piano and Prophet parts, giving that tight, pitched, present tone. I’d choose something like the Ludwig Blue Oyster kick, tweak EQ just a touch, and leave character shaping to Live – Goodhertz Tupe for harmonic weight, Soundtoys Decapitator for bite, and a UAD Pultec for overall tone. Keeping the same chain across tracks made it feel like one drummer moving between rooms.
For me, hi-hats are where so much feel and groove live. I’ll alternate articulations or vary velocity and timing manually so no two hits are identical. In my How I Actually Create Good Drums video, I demonstrate that process of going hit-by-hit until it grooves. Ableton’s MIDI editor gives you control over velocity and timing, and if you want a faster starting point, the Groove Pool or Velocity Device can add subtle micro-variations before you refine things by hand
Image courtesy of Matt Wilde
Drums that follow the music
Rather than forcing the music to fit the drums, I let the drums follow the phrasing. If a piano stab lands early, I nudge the snare. If a trumpet phrase needs space, I mute the kick. It’s not an imitation of a live drummer but a composition shaped by performance.
During a session with trumpeter Aaron Wood in Huddersfield, we kept it simple: trumpet, piano, Rhodes, laptop. The takes had that “could-fall-apart” excitement. In Live, I’d stretch or chop just enough to keep that energy – following his phrases with a snare-snare-snare, or thinning the kit so his tone could breathe. Because everything was in Session View, I could record those edits in real time and keep the interplay intact.
Image courtesy of Matt Wilde
Ableton has several features that genuinely suit an improviser’s mindset, and most of them shaped how I made Find a Way. Capture MIDI has become essential when I’m working with software instruments – it rescues ideas I’ve played but forgotten to record and turns those spontaneous moments into material I can actually use. When I’m playing hardware like the Nord Piano 5 or Prophet, those ideas usually come in as audio, but the same “capture first” mentality still applies: I record long passes, then pull out phrases that feel alive and build from there. Recording from Session View into Arrangement keeps that performance-led approach going. Instead of programming parts bar by bar, I can “play” the arrangement in real time and let the feel dictate the structure. And when I move into editing, Live’s Groove Pool is a quick way to introduce subtle timing and velocity variations before I refine everything by hand. Push 3, especially with MPE and standalone mode, has become part of that workflow too; I can sketch expressive ideas away from the laptop, then drop them straight back into Live when I’m ready to shape the track. All of these tools support a process where improvisation leads and production follows, which is exactly how this record came together.
Add my regular front-end – Soyuz 013 pair for upright piano, Genelec 8040s for monitoring, and AIAIAI TMA-2 wireless headphones for cable-free tracking – and it’s a setup built for spontaneity.
Image: Press
Imperfection as feel
The temptation in-the-box is to try and polish everything, but I try not to. I like the “accidents” that can transform the feel of a song, like a clap that lands slightly late, a tambourine tucked behind the snare, a one-off foot-close hat. Sometimes I’ll delay a layered clap by a few milliseconds so it “answers” the snare rather than lands on it.
One thing that’s helped me bring more life into programmed music is starting with a long, unbroken take before I even think about drums. I sit at the piano or Rhodes, record a long take, and let the harmonic phrasing lead. That performance becomes the structure the drums follow.
I keep my drum chain consistent across tracks and focus on small timing and velocity shifts rather than heavy edits. Those little movements are usually where the human feel sits.
And instead of programming an arrangement, I’ll perform it. Recording a pass from Session View into Arrangement feels like directing a band responding in real time and shaping the track as it unfolds.
This workflow helps me keep programmed music connected to the instinctive, improvisational side of playing.
Image courtesy of Matt Wilde
Closing thought
Working this way made it easier to enter a flow state. I found myself sitting at the piano or Rhodes most days, pressing record and letting those long improvised passes become raw material. Over time they felt almost like daily sketches — loose ideas I could return to, shape, and eventually build full tracks from.
Ableton began to feel less like a DAW and more like another instrument in that process, giving me space to follow the phrasing wherever it wanted to go. Keeping consistent chains on each instrument meant the mix developed as I played, which freed up headspace and let the music unfold without second-guessing.
Listening back to Find a Way, it feels honest. I can hear those early sketches in the final tracks — the spontaneity in the keys, the interplay with the drums, the moments we captured with the live players we did bring in. I’m proud of how we arrived here, and it’s a workflow I’ll carry forward.
If you want to hear how that approach sounds, I’ve broken down the Find a Way sessions and workflow on my YouTube channel.
The post How I turned my DAW into an improv partner while producing my jazz album appeared first on MusicTech.

Late To the Party - Albums You Wish You'd Discovered EarlierSometimes an album can sneak up on you and become a part of the soundtrack of your life, even years later. We at AllMusic embrace these late discoveries and proudly (and in some cases abashedly) present some of our personal "late to the party" albums. Don't let them pass you by.

Pro Tools templates: How to set them up to streamline your workflow
Learn how to streamline your music production process in Pro Tools with templates, whether you're recording, mixing, or mastering.