GEAR + TECH
BT Is Turning His 14th Studio Album “Metaversal” Into an NFT Treasure Hunt
Listening to BT‘s upcoming 14th album comes with some pretty high financial incentives. Rare, one-of-a-kind NFTs await BT’s most eagle-eyed fans as the electronic music legend readies the release of Metaversal, a multi-sensory, blockchain-based album experience unlike any other. As longtime fans have come to realize, BT has a habit of speaking in codes, and hasn’t hesitated to embed audio and visual “easter eggs” in his work for fans to find. Now, he’s betting on fans to meet a challenge unlike any he’s posed to them before. “To say I have smart and creative fans is the understatement of the century,” BT said in a statement. “One of the most thrilling things about releasing music over the years has been how long it ...
Play a New Post-Apocalyptic Puzzle Game Inspired by Modular Synthesizers
Imagine a post-apocalyptic world where agriculture is scarce and the only way to save it is through a revolution involving modular synthesizers. That’s the world of The Signal State, a complex new puzzle game by Reckoner Industries. Within each puzzle are machines to be repaired, and each machine closely resembles a modular synth component typically used in electronic music production. Samplers, signal delays, output, and more are waiting to be programmed cohesively as the user attempts to solve the challenges, dragging and dropping cables to each unique module. Leaderboards and achievements will encourage competition between players as they attempt to solve the apocalyptic agriculture crisis within the game by fixing synth-like machines that help produce food. Down the line, The Sig...
Ableton Launches Live 11.1 Update Beta
The team behind the popular digital audio workstation Ableton always seems to be making improvements to its software, and now the Live 11.1 update has been launched in public beta to make the program even more user-friendly. The new update sees a myriad of features added to streamline the music production process within Ableton, including native support for Apple brand computers running on the recently introduced M1 Silicon chip. Ableton’s Frequency Shifter received a new mode for real-time monophonic pitch shifting, along with an added envelope section, delay, LFO, and glide functionalities. The public beta for Ableton’s Live 11.1 update is now available. Ableton Recommended Articles Align Delay and MIDI Shaper are two of the new utilities being added with ...
DJ Equipment Prices See Steady Increase as Manufacturing Woes Continue
Those on the market for DJ or music production gear may have noticed an unpropitious trend: prices are higher than normal and supply is incredibly low. And according to a new study, this trend won’t be subsiding anytime soon. According to DJ Tech Tools, there are a number of factors that have contributed to the rise in price and shortages. Labor costs and lack of demand from companies and promoters are among them, though they only scratch the surface of the growing issue. Importing has apparently become a nightmare. Ocean freights are overbooked, causing delays in all industries and sharp price increases. These delays can cause goods to arrive months late. Tariffs have also remained an issue in the United States despite an administration change. Many manufacturers rely on their Chine...
3LAU’s Next Song Will Be 50% Fan-Owned
3LAU is dropping the world’s first fan-owned song through the power of blockchain and NFT technology. The dance music producer and member of Cointelegraph’s Top 100 Notable People In Blockchain, raised $16 million earlier this summer in order to bring his new entrepreneurial endeavor, Royal, to fruition. The new platform tokenizes royalty-generating musical assets, enabling the public to purchase tokens which effectively guarantee them a share of the income generated from every stream. It’s a logical thought progression for 3LAU given his success in tokenizing the first-ever NFT album earlier this year. In January, he sold 33 NFTs tied to the long-form project, generating an astronomical $11.6M in proceeds. The idea for Royal came from a relatively straightforw...
New Synth “Dedicated to All Abused and Oppressed Women” Draws Backlash
“May our voices unite and bring light, joy and happiness to this world of injustice and inequality. Smash the patriarchy,” said Dreadbox in a statement on the company’s newest analog polysynth, the Nymphes. Despite the boldly supportive statement, however, the company has drawn less than savory reactions from the public upon announcing the release of the synth. While the analog synth maker goes even further to instruct prospective users, those potential buyers aren’t quite happy with the way the company seems to be piggybacking off of a cause without actually supporting it in any way. “Each time you play a note on this synthesizer, imagine that you soothe their pain away and you will become a better human being and synth player,” reads the statement. “Hey...
WAVEZOO Launches to Make Live Virtual DJ Performances More Accessible
In the age of COVID-19, it’s no secret that live music has not only found solace in the virtual realm, but also thrived. Livestreaming quickly became the new norm, and as IRL concerts returned, it became more and more clear that virtual music performances aren’t going anywhere. WAVEZOO, a company offering a platform to source curated, interactive live DJ sets, wants to keep the momentum of the streaming landscape alive and help artists navigate the intricacies of virtual performances. WAVEZOO, which originated in Jamaica, aims to democratize the oftentimes difficult process of discovering and booking international DJs with its user-friendly platform. With WAVEZOO, users can access an expansive roster of DJs and professional musicians on a secure site. These artists can the...
The Chainsmokers, Disclosure, More Back Audius In $5 Million Funding Round
Blockchain-based streaming service Audius has announced it recently closed a $5 million funding round in partnership with some of the contemporary music scene’s most popular creators. Artists such as The Chainsmokers, Disclosure, Steve Aoki, Katy Perry, Jason Derulo, Pusha T, Mike Shinoda, and many others are throwing their weight—and their cash—behind Audius, helping to grow the crypto-powered platform’s footprint in the streaming economy. The high-profile capital infusion represents a powerful endorsement from the creator economy for the decentralized future of music. From a creator standpoint, Audius’ unique decentralized infrastructure offers creators a censorship-proof, direct-to-consumer experience. These characteristics have led artists to treat Audius as a t...
No Tickets, No Problem: You Can Now Enter Red Rocks By Scanning Your Palm
Thanks to a new partnership between Red Rocks and Amazon, we’re now a step closer to living in a real-life Black Mirror episode. Fans entering concerts at the iconic Colorado open air venue can now scan their palm in lieu of tickets or digital barcodes using Amazon One, the company’s biometric technology. After purchasing a pass to any given show, ticket-holders will be able to gain entry simply by hovering their palm over a touchless Amazon One device at the amphitheatre’s gates. An Amazon One palm reader. Amazon Prospective users must first enroll in the Amazon One program, which has to be done in person and takes less than a minute. Recommended Articles “When a ticketholder is ready to enter the amphitheater using their palm, there is a designated entry...
Don Diablo’s Most Ambitious NFT Drop Yet Comes With a Real-Life, Hexagonal Structure
Don Diablo is once again making NFT history with his most ambitious venture yet. The project, which he’s calling “Hexhibit III,” is a digital collectible with a real-world counterpart. Like something out of a science fiction movie, Diablo’s vision for the NFT takes the form of a futuristic, spaceship-like capsule towering at nearly twice his height. While he could’ve left it at that, Diablo then had what he calls a ludicrous idea: what if he replicated the structure in the real world? “I said, ‘What if you could stand inside an NFT, literally? That hasn’t been done before,'” Diablo told Rolling Stone. Though he didn’t disclose the financial resources needed to make it happen, he did suggest the cost to build the chamber was compar...
Apple Music Leverages Shazam to ID Full DJ Mixes, Compensate Rights Holders
In a streaming service first, Apple Music has launched a robust track-identification feature capable of analyzing full DJ mixes and ensuring music rights holders are paid. The feature was developed as an extension of Shazam’s proprietary track identification technology. Apple added Shazam to its growing portfolio of services via a highly visible $400 million acquisition back in 2018. DJ Mixes have proven to be a thorn in the side of content creators and digital platforms alike. Without an efficient methodology to break down a DJ mix into the sum of its parts, rights holders and DJ’s have historically been unable to effectively monetize them. Consequentially, many artists and labels have barred their music from appearing in DJ mixes outright, leading to the automated remov...
Coast to Coast kit list: what’s in my backpack
Our Coast to Coast kit list includes everything you’ll need for this classic long-distance journey across northern England I recently returned from hiking England’s Coast to Coast Walk. The 302km (188mi) unofficial footpath traverses England from St Bees Head in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire. To help other trekkers get the balance right, I’ve put together my usual post-trip kit list of everything I packed. Where possible, I’ve linked to the gear I carried for reference. [embedded content] Coast to Coast kit list As I live on the trail, I chose to walk from my home in Richmond to Robin Hood’s Bay and back (seven days), and then from Richmond to St Bees and back again (13 days). By the time I got home, I had completed the trail twice, so have a fair idea of the kit requi...
