Watch your mouth. Buy some history. David Morales freed.
If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all. Haringey Council, well known for being the best-spoken council in London, are banning swearing at Wireless Festival. Where this leaves the festival is anyone’s guess but the likelihood is they will try to move elsewhere. It’s not a decision that has been well received by artists and fans alike. Read more here.
Monster Techno. Revealed and teased a few months ago, Erica Synth new Techno system is now available. It will set you back a cool 3,690 Euros but for that price users can expect a features overload stamped with the well renowned Erica Synth quality. Check out the full specs here.
New release. David Morales has been released by the Japanese authorities without charge. “We’re delighted to confirm that David Morales has been released without charge,” reads a statement from Morales’s team. “David is well and has asked that we pass on his love and gratitude to all those who have shown their support. We will not be making any further comment, and request that David and his family’s privacy be respected at this time.”
Behringer comes to market. Behringer has announced its clone of Sequential Circuits’ Pro-One synthesiser will retail for $299. The news came via a Facebook post and is the second product to reach the market after the Behringer D, a budget remake of the Minimoog.
Sequential Announces Prophet XL Synthesizer. Sequential, formerly Dave Smith Instruments, have announced the Prophet XL, a 76-key version of their flagship Prophet X samples-plus-synthesis hybrid synth. The Prophet XL will be available in November of 2018 with a MAP of $4,399.
Cleared for takeover. Sony Corp’s takeover of EMI Music Publishing has been approved by European regulators without any further concessions. Sony is now clear to complete a $2.3bn deal which will approximately buy it a further 60% of EMP (EMI Music Publishing) – adding to the 30% it already owns. A $287.5m deal for the remaining 10% has already been agreed with the Jackson Estate.
Gear for grabs. Much loved band Sonic Youth are about to sell 200 pieces of studio gear, 200 screen prints show poster, persoanl relics and other memorabilia. It will include several guitars owned by the band including ’70s Fender Telecaster Deluxe and a blue Fender Precision Bass. Worth a look.
Big sound, little synth. Bob Miller, a developer in Oregon, has created the ‘Deep Synth’, a handheld instrument made with a Game Boy-inspired 1Bitsy 1UP console. Despite its tiny size, it can recreate (and play) the 30-voice synthetic crescendo that’s best known as THX “Deep Note” sound. It’s pretty cool. Check it out below.
MIDI browse. A Google Chrome extension called qwertySeq() will add a 16-step MIDI sequencer to your browser. The extension was created by developers Matt Dowdney and William Chu, who originally started the project to help them sequence ’80s synths with no on-board sequencing capabilities using the Web-MIDI API. More here.
Rise of the machines. Artificial intelligence is already commonplace in the music industry. Spotfiy use it and brands such as Coca Cola have used AI music for their campaigns. But AI is increasingly being asked to compose music itself – and this is the problem confronting many more computer scientists besides Dadabots. Read more on the matter here.