Sound Check Vol. 1

Welcome to Sound Check. The spec sheet tells you what it does. We tell you if it's any good.

Each month, resident sound guy Cameron Yeh covers AI tools, synths, software, drum machines, headphones, speakers, studio acoustics and whatever else is shaping how producers, DJs and listeners make and hear sound; his experience-led take on what's worth your money, what's overhyped, and what's just genuinely fun.

You'll also come across some tech-related industry news worth being updated on.

Cameron is a Hong Kong-based audio engineer, system integrator and DJ with 15+ years in the industry. He's built audio for everything from professional studios to live venues, worked events and distribution deals with major audio brands, and helped launch one of Greater China's first A/V e-commerce platforms.

He's also been a resident DJ here and there, which means he's had to play on systems he built himself. Sound Check comes from both sides of the booth.

Here's what's on his wavelength this month:

InMusic Brands has acquired Native Instruments in full. This includes Komplete, Traktor, Maschine, Kontakt and Reaktor, extending to affiliated brands iZotope, Brainworx, and Plugin Alliance. The deal was finalised and announced during Superbooth in May. Native Instruments was in substantial debt and on the verge of bankruptcy. InMusic saves the day.

InMusic’s existing line-up of music tech brands is impressive, including Akai Professional, Moog Music, Denon DJ, Alesis, Rane, M-Audio, Numark, and many more. You can assume this means deeper integration between NI’s platforms (Komplete, Traktor, NKS) and InMusic’s hardware controllers from brands like Akai, M-Audio, Denon DJ, Numark, etc..

Biggest news here for NI users is that your hardware and sound libraries are safe. Updates and support continue, products keep shipping. Breathe a sigh of relief.

In an investigation of the server-level AI crawler blockade by DJ Mag, Change Underground has aimed to expose what they believe to be corporate data hoarding. In essence, the blockade of DJ Mag’s archives from AI search engines diminish the visibility of electronic music artists and PR campaigns from their publication to the outside world.

DJ Mag's DJ/Club rankings and awards can significantly affect an artist or venue’s popularity. The visibility and recognition gained from campaigns or features on the platform have contributed to artists’ rise to mainstream exposure as well as club venues' increased business. Erasing AI engines’ ability to access these archives would theoretically lessen the impact these campaigns have.

From a business standpoint, this could allow DJ Mag the ability to negotiate licensing deals with AI companies for access.

Suno allegedly scraped copyrighted music from streaming platforms for their training libraries, according to hacked source code from 2023-2024. Suno is currently involved in multiple lawsuits from major record companies. More recently, they were ruled to have infringed copyright by German courts for using works without a license.

The scope of the scraping is extensive, with files apparently showing Suno lifted 113,879 hours of material from YouTube Music, and 12,287 hours from Deezer, among others. For their vocal generation models, Suno allegedly used acapellas on YouTube as well as attempting to download almost one million hours of podcasts.

Korg’s NTS-4 is a new performance mixer in their NuTekt series. The NuTekt range are all DIY, assembled by the user. There’s no soldering required and each unit can be built in minutes.

The NTS-4 comes with four stereo and two mono channels, six in total. The FX options are particularly strong: two dedicated stereo FX engines with delay/reverb/chorus and another Total FX engine on the Master Out with filter/compression/drive/modulation. Each channel has a CUE and MUTE button, with 1/4“ jacks for the Main outputs.

It has USB-C connectivity with 48 kHz / 24-bit digital audio transfer, as well as USB MIDI support, seamlessly bridging your analogue and digital workflows.

It’s perfect as a central hub, great for both live sets and in the studio.

Partnering with SUPERSENSE, Teenage Engineering have released the APC-2, a 140kg made to order professional grade vinyl cutting lathe.

Cutting vinyl records has long relied on older machines with a dwindling number of qualified maintenance engineers. As a result, cutting records has been one of the more exclusive processes in the industry. The machines are not the only barrier, as the cutting head components remain a challenge to manufacture. They’ve found a solution through Swiss inventor Flo Kaufmann, teaming up to create a cutter for the APC-2.

This all in one vinyl cutter includes a vacuum suction system, built-in amplification, connectivity to DAWs, and Wi-fi configuration.

While the plan isn’t to replace regular pressing plants, Teenage Engineering and SUPERSENSE believe the APC-2 can open the door to small batch pressings, special editions, or even performances recorded live on the spot.

The belief is that by creating accessibility to pressings, they can evolve the relationship between artists and records.

Check out this browser based MPC built for YouTube links, playable with your keyboard.

The YPC is surprisingly full functional and automatically sets samples from any YouTube link. You can play each sample from your keyboard and adjust the samples as you please.

I had some fun with Aphex Twin’s 'Windowlicker'; have a try!

Sound Check considers gear for review. Brands and distributors, get in touch.

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