A beloved tabletop looper gets a new life in the Boss RC-505mkll Loop Station

The second generation of Boss’ revered multitrack looper has arrived as the RC-505mkII Loop Station. Boss is showcasing the power of the new five-track stereo looper in a collaboration with Swissbeatbox (SBX), the world’s largest beatbox platform. READ MORE: Show Off Your Studio: Oliver Nelson’s Scandinavian dreamland Boss says that the RC-505mkII...

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UK’s musicians will be able to tour 19 European countries visa-free

UK musicians and performers will be able to tour a number of European countries without a visa or work permit, the government has announced. READ MORE: Month in music tech: the biggest news of July 2021 The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said in a statement that it reached an agreement with 19 EU member states to allow...

4h

Show Off Your Studio: Oliver Nelson’s Scandinavian dreamland

Oliver Nelson’s upbeat, dancefloor-ready remixes have garnered him steady success over the years. But when TikTok got hold of his 2015 unofficial remix of The Wombats’ Greek Tragedy this year, his music exploded online, being featured in over 430,000 videos online, leading to an official release of the remix. His original tracks have proven infectious,...

6h

Review: BLEASS Granulizer

Price Desktop: $46.99 (Intro $34.99), iOS: £4.99 Contact BLEASS French audio software developer BLEASS is quite a new name in the world of plug-ins. Founded in 2018, and based at the Plaine Images creative industries hub in Tourcoing, near Lille, France, the company develops software instruments and effects. READ MORE: Review: Dawvelopment DAW...

7h

API Select series offers familiar but reimagined preamps, EQ and compressors

API Select is a new series of pro audio gear designed and built at API’s Jessup, Maryland facility. It comprises a tube preamp and compressor, a four-band EQ based on vintage gear, along with a couple of guitar pedals and more. READ MORE: Best freeware of the month: July 2021 The pieces of gear are said to mark a shift from some of the heritage...

8h

Paul Johnson, Chicago house icon and Get Get Down star, dies at 50 from COVID-19

Paul Johnson, the Chicago house DJ-producer known internationally for his 1999 hit Get Get Down, has died at the age of 50 from COVID-19. A statement posted to Johnson’s Facebook page confirmed his passing: “Our greatness passed away this morning at 9am the house music legend we all know as PJ aka PAUL JOHNSON has passed away in this day of AUGUST...

10h

How to use external sample editors within Ableton Live

Ableton Live has an impressive toolkit for editing audio samples, with warping, reversing, slicing and more. But there are some seriously powerful pieces of software out there that can give you more control over your audio, whether you’re just cleaning up some vocals or completely transforming the timbre of a sound. Still, wouldn’t it be better if you...

10h

Sensel’s free Max For Live device, Spectral Shiatsu, changes how you work with time and sound

Sensel, the developer best known for its Morph controller, has released Spectral Shiatsu, a free Max For Live plug-in that triggers sounds in a novel way. READ MORE: Plug-ins I Actually Use: Felix Cartal  Spectral Shiatsu analyses any sound or image that you load into it, creating a map of all the frequencies and their amplitude over time. The...

10h

Finneas says he was producing “really bad” music for five years before he made Billie Eilish’s Ocean Eyes

Bedroom production wunderkind Finneas has said that it took him five years of tinkering with Logic Pro before he made anything he thought sounded good. READ MORE: Mark Ronson on new documentary Watch The Sound: “Technology and ‘sound’ are what distinguishes a good song from an amazing record” Despite his incredible success at just 23 years old,...

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K-Hand, Detroit techno pioneer and founder of Acacia Records, has reportedly died

Kelli Hand, the Detroit techno and house pioneer better known as K-Hand, has reportedly died. Hand’s death was confirmed by several of her close peers, who broke the news on social media yesterday (3 August), according to reports on Resident Advisor and MixMag. The cause of death has not been revealed. Hand was an accomplished producer-DJ and the...

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