GEAR + TECH
SoundCloud’s New Bot Allows Discord Users to Access Its 320 Million Tracks
SoundCloud is launching their very own Discord bot. The new integration will allow Discord server owners to add the bot so its users can more easily discover music within the instant messaging social platform. Discord users will be able to listen to recent tracks they’ve liked on SoundCloud, stream music from artists they follow on the platform and discover new music through its discovery algorithm based on tags, genres and moods. Once added, members will be able to search SoundCloud’s vast library of more than 320 million tracks—over three times more than Apple Music’s current catalog—without having to leave Discord. It’s worth noting that anybody can upload music and audio to SoundCloud, so there aren’t many barriers beyond its auto...
Innovative Music Tech Companies Receive €100K After Winning ADE Startup Competition
Last Spring, the Amsterdam Dance Event and venture capital firm Antler asked the industry for their forward-thinking ideas in music tech. This week, two winning concepts were crowned, with each receiving six figures of investment. The ADE & Antler Startup Competition received more than 100 entries, but after a rigorous interview and pitch process, the pool was ultimately narrowed to just a handful of finalists who made their final pitch at Felix Meritis during ADE. Un:hurd is an artist-facing platform which helps creators better leverage their data and promotional insights through the help of artificial intelligence. The company was founded in 2019 by Alex Brees. The second winner, SYNKii, developed a clear use case as a result of the pandemic. Calling itself “the profession...
Ableton’s Mobile App, Note, Has Arrived
Digital audio workstation Ableton has launched Note, a brand new mobile application on iOS. It’s available now for $5.99. According to Ableton’s website, “Note is a place to start ideas, experiment with sounds, and find direction. As part of your regular music-making routine, it can help you hone the skill of starting or ease into a creative headspace at the start of a session.” Note comes built-in with drum kits, melodic instruments and a variety of synths, but users are also able to record their own sounds in to craft their own library. While it’s significantly cheaper than the desktop version of Ableton, it’s also not a replacement. Ableton’s full suite is built into the desktop software. Scroll to Continue Recommended A...
Slice Up Drums With This Pizza-Inspired Beatmaking Plugin
Software is the lifeblood of today’s music creator economy, and the new Beat Scholar plugin is innovating drum sequencing for a new generation of producers. The plugin incorporates a unique system of pizza-like buttons, which allow users to more granularly and flexibly program their drum hits than ever before. The plugin allows users to create their own unique sequences with varied denominations between one and 42. With the simple click and hold of the mouse, users can “split pizzas” and drag sounds into their workspace. The program includes a sampler and a master effects area for good measure. At more advanced levels of the tool, the unique layering of tracks additionally allows producers to combine two different time signatures within the scope of a single ar...
Check Out These Early Daft Punk Helmet Concept Images From the ’90s
Before Daft Punk‘s signature robot attire became a staple of pop culture, the design and functionality of their helmets were subject to years of trial and error. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo launched Daft Punk in 1993, but it would be six years until they conceived their robot alter-egos in 1999. And the iconic helmets we know and love today apparently went through many iterations before they were finalized and changed electronic music forever. An Instagram page by the name of Aksploration has unearthed images which the account says depicts the development of Daft Punk’s helmets in 1999. Some early concepts even featured wigs, according to Aksploration. It seems the legacy of Daft Punk’s helmets has amplified in the wake of their shocking spl...
We Came Up With Bizarre Descriptions of DJs—Then Used Artificial Intelligence to Bring Them to Life
There’s nothing that blurs the line between frightening and fascinating quite like artificial intelligence. And since artificial intelligence and electronic music are becoming more symbiotic by the day, the staff here at EDM.com wanted to see just how far it could go in a visual sense. So we came up with bizarre descriptions of artists and fed them through A.I. art generators. Some images are photorealistic. Others are fancifully distorted. And the majority of them are flat-out creepy. But we digress. Read on to see our weird and wonderful creations. TOKiMONSTA “TOKiMONSTA DJing in a neon sky arcade with golden canaries” by Jason Heffler. Jason Heffler REZZ “REZZ DJ as painted by Salvador Dalí” by Nick Yopko. Nick Yopko Flume R...
Colored Bricks and Fresh Kicks: Check Out This Functional LEGO Drum Machine
Is there anything that can’t be built with LEGO? YouTuber Brick Technology has certainly tested what we thought could have been the limit of the iconic childhood toy by creating a fully functional electronic drum machine. Building a mechanical LEGO device like this is well within his wheelhouse after having built an impressive array of remote vehicles and projectile-shooting devices, all made from the colored bricks. Inspired by the now-discontinued Roland TD-9, perhaps constructing this drum machine with an intricate arrangement of bricks and pins from scratch is the only way to get a device like the source material into your home studio. The device was engineered using a shrewd system of levered picks and a conveyor belt-like runway outfitted with various pegs to encode the in...
Music Tech Startup Songfinch Raises $17 Million to “Create a Middle Class of Musicians”
Music tech startup Songfinch has secured $17 million, closing a Series A funding round that amplifies its efforts to create a “middle class of musicians,” Built In Chicago reports. Songfinch is one of a handful of music startups aiming to change how independent musicians are compensated for their work. “The industry tends to be a star-driven league and the top two percent get a chance to participate and eat most of the dollars in the industry while the other 98 percent struggle and fight for scraps,” John Williamson, CEO of Songfinch told Built In Chicago. The goal of Songfinch’s online marketplace is to provide artists with a hub where consumers can commission them to create custom songs. The platform allows users to choose a style, mood and other custom elements f...
Dutch Designer Dzanar Teams Up With G-Eazy for Debut NFT Collection
Dutch designer Dzanar and multi-Platinum rapper G-Eazy have joined forces for the latter’s debut NFT collection. It’s called “The Geralds” and it was minted on the Quincy Jones-backed digital collectibles platform OneOf. Showcasing the different aspects of G-Eazy’s personality and hobbies, the NFTs are sold in packs so fans can purchase different combinations and win VIP perks, like meeting the chart-topping rapper in-person. Having taken on design projects for a slew of major contemporary music artists, like Akon, Chris Brown, Ed Sheeran, Kesha and more, Dzanar has cemented himself as a coveted collaborator in the music industry. c/o Dzanar The designer says he experiences synesthesia, a condition which essentially triggers the senses so when you hear music, you see shap...
Aphex Twin Launches Free “Sample Mashing” App, an Idea Decades In the Making
Aphex Twin‘s secret sauce is certainly difficult to decode, but the fabled electronic music producer is shedding a light on his creative process with the development of a new creative production app, Samplebrain. The free, open source software effectively turns any given sample into a neural network of possibilities. Aphex Twin teamed up with Dave Griffiths on the app’s engineering. A statement by Aphex Twin via Warp Records outlays Samplebrain’s possibilities. “What if you could reconstruct source audio from a selection of other mp3’s / audio on your computer?” he said. “What if you could build a 303 riff from only acapellas or bubbling mud sounds? What if you could sing a silly tune and rebuild it from classical music files? You ca...
VRJAM’s Visceral 5th Dimension Platform Is a Glimpse Into the Future of Metaverse Raves
Whether or not you agree with the concept of the metaverse, there’s no arguing it’s music’s next frontier. It’s changing the industry as we know it—and VRJAM is one of the biggest catalysts. The accessibility, affordability and sustainability of the metaverse are already being enjoyed by its advocates. But when it comes to live music experiences in the metaverse, VRJAM knows that fan engagement is the real key. For artists embracing Web3, a phrase referring to the next iteration of the internet that promotes decentralized protocols, VRJAM could be a knight in shining armor. After all, it’s not easy building a fanbase these days, but the company’s blockchain-powered platform enables musicians to do it in innovative ways—and monetize it. So VRJAM...
3LAU and Steve Aoki Invest In Groundbreaking Blockchain Music Production Company
The future of music production could very well live on the blockchain. One Web3 startup with promising potential has developed the first on-chain digital audio workstation (DAW), and in doing so, has attracted the attention of a number of major electronic dance music artists. Arpeggi Labs’ use case differs fundamentally from the vast majority of successful developments at the intersection of music tech and blockchain technologies, which may prove to be a key competitive edge. While many new platforms in the space are leading with a focus on facilitating the tokenized ownership of music, Arpeggi is focusing on revolutionizing the way the music itself is made and published. The platform accomplishes this while maintaining a proprietary crediting system that ensures samples ...
