GEAR + TECH
How Redpill VR is Mutating the Modern Music Festival Into a Visceral Virtual Reality Experience
With each major music festival domino that falls due to the impact of COVID-19, Redpill VR smells the blood in the water. Developing mind-bending, immersive experiences that blend music with virtual reality, Redpill has emerged as one of the nation’s preeminent VR companies. They have been working tirelessly for the better half of the last decade, looking through rose-colored VR glasses to mutate the modern music festival into an immersive shared experience that can be funneled straight to the cerebrum of the raver. “At the end of the day, the core element of the experience is to be social,” Redpill’s Isaiah Martin told EDM.com. As the organization’s Chief Magic Officer, Martin has a bird’s-eye view of its technological advancements, helping to spea...
Viberate Launches New Analytics Tool to Empower Music Professionals
Last year, around 40,000 songs were uploaded to Spotify every single day. The figure represents both a staggering statistic and a daunting obstacle for independent artists, whose music is essentially rendered a needle in a haystack. With so much new music entering platforms each passing minute, music discovery and management have become more difficult in an extremely competitive industry. Enter UMEK, the renowned electronic music producer and entrepreneur behind Viberate, a music tech startup that develops tools to empower music professionals. Their latest venture is a brand new analytics tool, which the company launched this week. The tool collects and analyzes crucial social media and music streaming metrics, such as followers, charts, views and engagement, and turns accur...
For $199, You Can Look Like a Cringey Daft Punk-Esque Astronaut With This Pandemic-Proof Helmet
Thanks to a bizarre new pandemic-proof wearable, you can now look like an astronaut plucked out of an early 90s pre-Daft Punk helmet blueprint. For $199, you can squeeze your head into MicroClimate‘s freakish “AIR” helmet, which the company is touting as a safe and stylish alternative to protect against COVID-19. More of a clumsy fishbowl than a trendy fashion statement, the new wearable cycles both inlet and outlet air through HEPA filters and contains a patented acrylic visor, which offers a clear view of the cosmonaut DJ behind it. Despite its Black Mirror-esque appearance and inherently comical existence, though, the “AIR” model comes with a laundry list of impressive tech specs. In addition to its state-of-the-art fan-powered ventilati...
Spotify Is Beta Testing Critical Upgrades to Its Apple Watch App
Though the Apple Watch first appeared on the scene nearly five years ago to underwhelming sales in its first year, the industry-leading wearable device has flourished in popularity in recent years and is poised for further growth. As the release of Apple’s latest Series 6 watch looms, Spotify has stepped up efforts to support and improve its capabilities on the device. Despite having an app since 2018 on the watch, Spotify has not created a native wearable experience, instead vastly functioning as a control for the Spotify app on the iPhone. Until now, Spotify’s Apple Watch app has not supported streaming natively through the device. However, recently users have reported seeing a blue “beta” icon within the watch’s connected devices window, which has all...
Reveho Launches Kickstarter for Revolutionary Modular Slite Guitar
Six years ago, French music equipment brand Reveho dreamed up a modular and easily portable electric guitar that didn’t compromise quality and sound. The Slite was born out of that dream, and Reveho’s plan for the instrument has nearly come to fruition. Funded via Kickstarter, the Slite aims to be the next big evolution of the electric guitar. A fully modular product that eliminates the need for pedals, interchangeable pickups, analog effects, and easily replaceable strings, the guitar is endlessly customizable to produce a vast multitude of sounds. The Slite can also house its own amplifier on the higher wing of the guitar, ensuring full portability with its collapsible body. Knobs and controllers allow the unit to easily adjust effects, pickup sensitivity, volu...
deadmau5 and SUBPAC Team Up for Custom M2 Model
deadmau5 and SUBPAC have teamed up for a one-of-a-kind collaboration that will literally send shockwaves down the spines of his fans. SUBPAC made waves back in 2013, when the company debuted its inaugural S1 model, the first fully integrated audio system that “immerses the body in high fidelity physical sound.” The one-of-a-kind audio ecosystem offered a unique listening experience that allowed users to append it to their backs in order to literally feel the frequencies of their music, games, film, and more. SUBPAC has released a number of iterations since the release of the S2, but the brand has just unveiled perhaps its most momentous model yet. SUBPAC has released a new collaboration with deadmau5 in the form of a custom M2 model. It has a new ergonomic shape ...
Pioneer’s Limited Edition DDJ-400-N Controller is a Portable, Gold-Dipped Nugget for Precision DJing
When Pioneer DJ unveiled its limited edition DDJ-400-N controller, the company took a proven hit and dipped it in gold. With subtle hues of gold splayed throughout the instrument like the gilded wings of a sparrow, the DDJ-400-N is a sleek and portable controller for precision DJing. While it is ideal for at-home performance due to its incredibly easy USB setup, its portable size renders it a great option for on-the-go mixing as well. It’s clear that Pioneer did their best to make the model their most accessible yet, as users are able to unbox their controller and find a rekordbox license key so they can start DJing immediately and avoid bottlenecks. Pioneer DJ Learning to DJ has never been easier with the DDJ-400-N, which was released earlier this ...
Fortnite Reveals New In-Game Concert Series Amid Bitter Legal Battle with Apple
The wildly popular battle royale mass multiplayer game Fortnite has been continually collaborating with musicians such as Marshmello, Diplo, and Travis Scott, pushing the envelope of what’s really possible within the world of video games. Fortnite has now announced a brand new concert series within its “Party Royale” mode to kick off with singer and rapper Dominic Fike, but users hoping to stream the shows via their Apple devices may find themselves royally peeved. Amid a bitter legal battle stemming from Apple’s accusation that Fortnite creator Epic Games introduced its own in-app payment system to circumvent the tech giant’s 30% transaction fee on all digital payments, Fortnite is currently unavailable on th...
Navigate a Virtual Sound Museum as a Teddy Bear with New Sound Campus Exhibit
Enrique Tomás sought to combine sound, art, and the feeling of visiting a museum with the advent of his concept project Sound Campus, which sees its virtual debut this week. Over 120 artists answered the call with submissions ranging from live sound installations to live performances. A third of those works were ultimately selected to become part of the exhibit, which was built in partnership with the University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz. Set in a dynamic virtual world, Sound Campus creates a shared experience among attendees who navigate the Titanic-shaped gallery as teddy bears. The surreal environment will focus on “uneasy” experimental sounds as its sonic theme. Live performances will also take place throughout multiple days of the exhibition. The 3D bin...
This Sample Library Gives Producers Access to Orchestral Instruments Used in “Mulan” Soundtrack
Orchestral Tools is gearing up for the release of its new Sine library, “Phoenix Orchestra,” which will give producers access to samples used in the creation of the soundtrack of the forthcoming live-action Mulan film. The collection was developed hand-in-hand with prolific composers Harry Gregson-Williams and Richard Harvey, whose renowned compositions have appeared in works such as Shrek, The Da Vinci Code, and the Metal Gear Solid series. Featured in the software are a number of traditional Chinese instruments such as the guzheng, zonghu, and erhu, among others. The audio was recorded in Thailand by the traditional Chinese ensemble, the Ding Yi Music Company. They’ve also provided instrument ensembles that feature multi...
This Chiptune Synthesizer Lets Producers Emulate Sounds of the Nintendo Entertainment System
The connection between the electronic music and gaming communities has been one of symbiotic alignment for decades, and its mythos runs through the chiptune genre. Inspired by retro 8-bit arcade games and consoles, chiptune is dance music’s Bordeaux, aging with grace over the years to deliver some of the finest music in the EDM epoch. The NES Poly Chiptune Synthesizer seeks to pay homage to its namesake genre through its innovative hardware, which is inspired by the sounds of the legendary Nintendo Entertainment System. The synth features eight waveform settings and eight preset sound parameter settings, making 64 preset patches available to producers looking to reproduce the glitchy sounds of the original Nintendo game console. The NES Poly is als...
Twitch Streamers Can Dodge DMCA Takedowns with This Free Music Extension
As streamers continue to navigate the music streaming Wild West of Twitch, Soundstripe is here to lend a helping hand to those faced with permabans due to incessant DMCA takedown notices. Soundstripe, named one of the top five fastest growing private media companies in the US on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list, is launching a new extension that allows users to play music from its library during their Twitch streams without the burden of copyright issues. With the free tool, users are also able to simulcast their livestreams on other platforms, like YouTube, without worrying about DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notices. For streamers who want to retain the ad revenue generated from their videos, Soundstripe also offers paid subscriptions at $15 per month. Another useful aspect of Soun...
