Technology

To most electronic music fans, Dutch producer Lodewijk Fluttert AKA Bakermat needs no introduction. His 2012 EP, Vandaag, sky-rocketed to the top of the charts across Europe and eventually went Platinum, consisting of an integrated sample of the I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King Jr. As for his 2020 single, Bainia, it currently holds a staggering half a billion streams on Spotify. READ MORE: “You don’t always need to mix a song — hear me out…”: Grace Davies on DIY production, breaking

Making music for free has never been easier. All you need is a computer – or even just your phone – to start cutting tracks using nothing but freeware. Here, we compile our roundups of the best freeware music-making software, apps, instruments and plug-ins that every producer, musician, beatmaker and DJ needs. READ MORE: The best sample packs, updated every month Your first step should be to bookmark our regularly updated list of the best freeware of the month. There, you’ll find a selection

As I walked the floors of a pop-up music venue within the LA Convention Center, pristine images of magenta-hued nebulas were projected on all four walls and the ceiling. The legendary recording artist, Moby, and his six-piece band were performing atmospheric electronic music on a stage in the center of the space. And the sound was being emitted evenly from every angle by L-Acoustics’ state-of-the-art L-Series speakers. READ MORE: In 3 hours, Hans Zimmer Live reminds you why AI won’t replace re

LANDR is hosting two plugin giveaways in collaboration with Synchro Arts for those who sign up to a free trial of either LANDR Studio or Synchro Arts subscriptions. The LANDR Synth X and Synchro Arts’ RePitch Elements premium plugins are available free of charge for those who start a trial on either platform. These plugins are valued at $99 each. READ MORE: LANDR Sampler uses AI to organise your sample library – could this be a godsend for producers? LANDR Synth X is described as “a powerho

Have you been spending hours searching for samples and synth presets to inspire your next track? Getting creative with a single sound source can help you break the cycle. READ MORE: How to record vocals on your phone and mix them to perfection You can grab a phone-recorded vocal today and produce a full track with it. Here’s how. Start with the bass I’ve already captured a song idea on my iPhone in free tempo, so I’ll import it into a new session in Ableton Live 12. Find or record a vocal

Beloved for his delicate, detailed, and highly emotive production style, Martin Stimming has carved out a niche in the world of experimental IDM. Based in Harmburg, Germany, the producer is currently on part two of a trilogy of albums; each one dedicated to his three sons. 2021 brought us Ludwig; a glorious subversion of the artist’s more club-centric work, while the recently released Friedrich retains that sonic freedom but arguably dives even deeper into the emotional resonance that electronic

Excite Audio has released Motion: Fractal, a granular plugin that can transform and manipulate audio in real time through dual granular engines and rhythmic effects. The launch marks the third plugin within its Motion series, joining Motion: Dimension (space and time modulation) and Motion: Harmonic (dynamic distortion modulation). Excite Audio says Fractal can offer “endless motion, texture, and modern sonic transformation”. READ MORE: Waves’ ILLUGEN text-to-sound engine can create sounds no

Apple has unveiled surprise updates to Logic Pro for macOS and iPad, with Logic Pro 11.2 and Logic Pro for iPad 2.2. New features include an enhanced Stem Splitter, Learn MIDI for iPad, a ChatGPT integration and a revamped feature that you probably never knew existed. READ MORE: “You don’t always need to mix a song — hear me out…”: Grace Davies on DIY production, breaking studio rules, and trusting your ears The new versions of Logic Pro are out now and available for current owners to update t

Single-channel models: $699 / € 749 / £629 Dual-channel models: $1199 / €1299 / £1159 warmaudio.com Warm Audio’s WA76 compressor/limiter has been performing stellar dynamic control duties in studios worldwide since its launch way back in the before-times of 2014. Indeed, your MusicTech correspondent here was one of the first to sing its praises; so much so, I bought a pair of them. READ MORE: Are KIT Plugins’ BB F66 and F67 convincing emulations of classic Fairchild compressors? Now, WA

Waves has launched an AI-powered text-to-sound engine called ILLUGEN, and it’s capable of making unique sounds from specific and incredibly weird prompts. The new tool is available as a subscription-only app as of current, with three tiers (basic, premium, and pro) available, and prices starting at $7.99 per month. This model is an interesting choice, given Waves’ previous u-turn on making its plugins available through subscription plans only after significant backlash. READ MORE: Waves’ Curv

In an age where concert entry constitutes little more than a digital barcode, it feels like music fans have lost a once crucial part of their connection to a favourite artist. With e-tickets deleted the morning after and print-outs often primed for the trash, it’s a sad development – especially for those who, like this writer, have actively kept gig and festival tickets archived in a folder for the past decade and a half. For avid gig-goer Nathan Flaskett, who has also collected signed albums a

Should music stay out of politics? Should every protest anthem blow your mind? And is it really fair to expect a chart-topping banger to double as a political manifesto? Anthony Fantano, host of The Needle Drop and one of the internet’s most influential music critics, says no – and thinks our expectations around political music might be the real problem. READ MORE: “It would basically kill the AI industry overnight”: Nick Clegg thinks asking artists for use permission is a bad thing “I thin

Loco Dice has played the biggest clubs in the world, collaborated with legends, and just dropped a new album packed with stars like Skrillex, Carl Cox and Marco Carola. But in 2025, even he’s at the mercy of the algorithm. Speaking to Billboard about his latest project Purple Jam, the German DJ and producer shares how making great music is only half the battle – getting people to actually hear it is the real challenge. READ MORE: “It’s our job to question the algorithms”: Jaden Smith on exper

Legendary rap artist Snoop Dogg has just dropped the official music video for his single, Sophisticated Crippin’, from his album Iz It A Crime? And it’s packed to the brim with generative AI footage. The music video starts out with a suited-up current-day Snoop Dogg having a conversation with a younger Snoop Dogg, wearing crip colours — older Snoop pleads that younger Snoop “keep crippin, but keep it ‘sophisicated crippin’”. If you’re somehow not convinced that these two Snoops aren’t made with

Arturia has launched a new stage keyboard, the AstroLab 88, which the brand describes as “future-proof”. The new keyboard offers a responsive hammer-action keybed with 40 onboard instruments and over 1,600 presets (powered by the Arturia V Collection and Pigments), updated CPU for improved polyphony and load times, and a “forward-thinking ecosystem that lets artists perform with all their signature sounds – laptop-free”. READ MORE: At $60, Arturia’s MicroLab MK3 MIDI controller could be perfe

When Thom Yorke, Mark Pritchard, and Jonathan Zawada started creating their new collaborative audiovisual album, Tall Tales, they did not set out to thematically bind it to the real world like a traditional tall tale. In fact, their approach serves to reject any sort of salient meaning. As the musicians behind the project, Yorke and Pritchard leaned into their decades of experimentation with instruments and techniques. They’ve crafted alien marching band suites in Back in the Game, melancholy p

Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister and ex-Meta head of global affairs, says a requirement to ask artists for express permission to use their work to train AI models would “basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight”. Clegg’s comments come amid an ongoing storm in the music industry, which was sparked by UK government plans to allow AI companies to train their models using copyrighted content. A number of high-profile artists have spoken out in opposition to the plans, includ

Andrew Watt has reflected on the early days of his production journey, noting how his work with Ozzy Osbourne helped to propel his career to new heights. Watt has worked with huge pop artists such as Justin Bieber and Lana Del Rey, however, it was producing Osbourne’s 2020 album, Ordinary Man, that really helped him find his place in the world of rock. He went on to produce Osbourne’s follow-up record, 2022’s Patient Number 9, the Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds, and Iggy Pop’s Every Loser (bo

LANG Electronics of Heritage Audio has launched the P.LANE Type 436 all tube vari-mu compressor, a modern take on the modified ALTEC 436C behind “the fresh and furious British Invasion sound that conquered the world in the ‘60s”. Described as one of the most mysterious vari-mu (variable gain) compressors of all time, the modded ALTEC 436C was notably used on recordings by The Beatles, and has gone on to be used across contemporary pop, rock, hip-hop, EDM, and more. LANG’s revival is a two rack

Ellie Dixon is a self-producing artist who, despite amassing millions of streams, continues to make her sample-heavy songs in her bedroom. In this episode of My Forever Studio, brought to you in partnership with Audient, find out how lockdown fuelled Ellie’s TikTok success, hear how her song Swing became a demo track in Logic Pro 11, and be challenged to raid your kitchen for samples. Ellie has built a massive following from her home studio, with 1.2 million TikTok fans, 18 million music stream

Singer-songwriter turned producer, Grace Davies, has come a long way since her time on the world-famous singing competition, The X Factor. With four EPs and one on the way, she’s learnt what it takes to work both independently and under major record label Syco, and is now spreading her producer wings with her upcoming album, The Wrong Side of 25, showcasing the first time that Davies has sat in the producing chair for an entire project. Alongside her notable sync work, which has seen her catalo

Zeds Dead reignited their love of sampling on their new album, Return to the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness, but the historic production technique brought them face to face with the uncertain process of clearing samples – again. One pre-existing recording on the album that members Zachary Rapp-Rovan and Dylan Mamid doubted they could secure was on A Million Dreams. The chilled-out drum ‘n’ bass track opens with the late piano legend Duke Ellington comparing playing music to dreaming. They

Claude VonStroke has bemoaned the necessity of posting to social media as an artist, saying that “it totally fucking sucks”, and suggests that cultivating quality is more important than putting up “a bunch of garbage”. Two decades into his career, the prominent producer and DJ, real name Barclay Crenshaw, is in what he describes as his “life of leisure” phase. In essence, he says, this is an era of complete independence. The former Dirtybird owner isn’t signed to a label; he’s only taking gigs

Kesha has unveiled SMASH, her new platform designed to put artists first. Writers, musicians, producers, and other creators can join the platform to hire each other for rates they set themselves, sign deals that best suit their interests, and keep all the rights to the final project. Other features include community networking, a marketplace, contracting, and a remote collaboration studio. READ MORE: Who is the next Aphex Twin? Meet the producers warping the future of electronic music To cele

If your home audio setup doesn’t look like it belongs in a Ridley Scott film, are you even listening in high fidelity? Elac seems to think not. Enter the Concentro M 807, a pair of floor-standing speakers that cost $45,000, look like high-end air purifiers, and may or may not open a wormhole in your living room. Crafted to celebrate the brand’s 99th anniversary, these floorstanders are far from the polite, wood-paneled speakers of yesteryear. With sweeping aluminum contours and a shape that cou