Music

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Stream Apple Music for free on American Airlines flights
Using your streaming services outside of your home's WiFi network (or your data plan) is either a challenge or plain expensive. And inflight? Forget it. That data is way too expensive. For American Airlines passengers and Apple Music users, there's a solution incoming. The companies have announced that subscribers can connect to the airline's complimentary inflight Wi-Fi to access Apple's entire catalogue of songs, music videos and the rest. In the press release, Apple Music vice president Oliver Schusser said that from Friday, subscribers will be able to "stream all their favorite songs and artists in the air, and continue to listen to their personal library offline."
Arturia's MicroFreak is an affordable synth that lives up to its name
Arturia already has a compelling low-cost analog synth in the MicroBrute. And an affordable analog drum machine in the DrumBrute Impact (that FM drum sounds bonkers). Now it's adding a digital synth at the same $349 price point and, well, it's a weird one. The MicroFreak has 11 different oscillator modes, including seven that were designed in collaboration with Mutable Instruments, which is renowned for its Eurorack synth modules. In fact, Arturia claims this puts the power of Mutable Instruments' much loved Plaits unit in a standalone synth. Oh, and there's nothing stopping Arturia from adding more oscillators down the road through firmware updates.
Moog's Sirin is an analog bass synth capable of soaring leads
Moog's DFAM percussion and Mother-32 semi-modular synthesizers are Eurorack-friendly instruments that can expand your sonic tool kit for around $600. As part of a week-long "House of Electronicus" event in LA, the company is debuting another $599 analog synth: the Sirin. This new instrument is based on Moog's Taurus Bass sound engine, but a pair of oscillators have been tweaked to achieve pitches way above middle C, hitting notes up to D8. In other words, this bass synth can do a lot more than just lay down some angry low-end tone, it can also produce soaring leads.
Elektron is making its powerful music-making sequencers more affordable
Elektron has a reputation for building high-end synths, samplers and grooveboxes with matching high-end prices. It's "affordable" options -- the Digitakt and Digitone -- have a list price of $759. Yikes. For NAMM 2019 though, it's making a legitimate play for a more budget conscious consumer with the unfortunately named Model:Samples. It has a list price of $449, but we're already seeing it for as little as $399 on some sites.
Fender’s acoustic-electric hybrid is a technological wonder
I'll admit that when I opened the guitar case of the Acoustasonic Telecaster I immediately thought of the toy guitar my parents gave me when I was four years old. With a small hole in the center of the body, it looks unlike anything out there. Well, except that plastic toy that somehow snuck its way into the recesses of my memory. Then I picked it up and strummed and... no this is not a plaything. This is a seriously impressive instrument that will more than likely win over skeptics once they start playing.
iRig Micro Amp delivers classic guitar tones with your phone
IK Multimedia is making it easier to bring a mini music studio on the road, especially if you have a newer iPhone. It just introduced an iRig Micro Amp that produces 15W while touting a USB interface, giving you a reasonably powerful yet portable amplifier with tone processing on iOS devices, Macs and PCs of all stripes. You don't need a headphone jack here, folks. It's larger than the company's earlier Nano Amp, but still compact enough that you can toss it in your backpack for impromptu practice sessions.
What we're listening to: Joanna Connor and 'Hilarious World of Depression'
In this month's installment of our audio IRL, we discover an amazingly talented guitar player from Chicago and a podcast where comedians, musicians and more open up about struggles with depression.
Spotify's in-car music player may go on sale this year
Spotify's rumored in-car music device appears to be taking shape. Financial Times sources claim the service plans to launch the in-car player sometime later in 2019 for roughly $100. There are more details as to how it would work, too. While the earlier leak mentioned voice control, the add-on would also include preset buttons that take you directly to playlists. You could play the soundtrack for your morning commute with a quick press. The hardware would pair to your car's sound system through Bluetooth, so you wouldn't need an aux-in cable to start listening.
Teenage Engineering is making modular synths for the masses
Modular synths are all the rage right now. And it's not just the usual players either. Korg and Stylophone recently dipped their toes in the modular world. And now Teenage Engineering is getting on the bandwagon. The company is best known for its portable music creation tools like the OP-1 and OP-Z, not to mention the damn near disposable, but kinda awesome Pocket Operator line. This year it's making it first modular system and also its first analog synth with the Pocket Operator Modular series.
Bandcamp will open its first record store in California next month
Bands and indie artists using Bandcamp to sell their music and merchandise might soon see their creations sold in the service's first brick-and-mortar location. The online platform, known for providing musicians an online portal where they can sell direct to consumers, is opening a physical store in Oakland California on February 1st. Bandcamp says it's featuring records that can showcase its platform's diversity, but the selection will be nowhere near as broad as what it offers online.
Akai Force is for DJs and producers that want to ditch the laptop
Akai made its name around the early 90s thanks to its line of relatively affordable S-series samplers and the (now legendary) MPC. Since then, the company has continued to release new spins on those mainstays, the latest of which is the all-in-one Force workstation.
Pandora's new voice search feature knows what you want to hear
It's been almost two years since Pandora launched its on-demand music streaming service. In that time, the company has done a solid job of fixing some of the issues that cropped up at launch and even adding some features the competition hasn't got to yet (like downloading songs to an Apple Watch for offline playback). Today, Pandora's adding another feature that some of its competitors have: Voice Mode. But, as usual, Pandora believes that the amount of information it has on both the music in its catalog as well as its users will set its voice features apart.
'Baby Shark' has gone so viral it's now a Billboard Top 40 song
Unless you spent the latter half of 2018 on the moon with your hands over your ears, it's highly likely you're at least aware of Baby Shark, the infectious kids' song and scourge of parents everywhere. So popular is this viral sensation that it's now entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart, meaning it's not going away any time soon. Sorry.
Sphero's Specdrums rings bring beatmaking to your fingertips
Just a few months after Sphero acquired Specdrums as a part of its shift away from robotics, the funky crowdfunded rings are center stage at its CES booth and getting ready to ship. I gave them a try, and despite a noticeable lack of musical talent I was quickly able to tap something out that vaguely resembled a loop that could play on LoFi Beats To Chill/Study To. The rings are embedded with Bluetooth transmitters as well as optical sensors, which tie a particular color to whatever sound you might like. The accom software -- running on an iPad during our demo -- comes with tons of preloaded sound samples and of course lets you add your own, then works behind the scenes to keep everything synced up. As shown by a much more talented musician, they can no more magic when assigned a wider assortment of sounds, and paired to colors of things around you in the real world. With enough skill, you could create music and play around with sounds anywhere inspiration strikes, not just on their multicolored mat. The rings will start shipping next week, and are already on sale at a price of $65 for one and $99 for a pair.
A Roland keyboard has Alexa built-in for voice control while you play
Alexa is handy for helping with a lot of activities, and soon the virtual assistant will help you control keyboard settings with your voice. Roland's latest keyboard, a new version of its GO:PIANO, features Alexa built-in and the company says this feature offers hands-free control while you're playing. Basically, you won't have to take your hands off the keys to tweak the sound or access specific settings -- thanks to the combination of the GO:PIANO and a new Roland Alexa Skill.
Tidal brings master-quality audio to its Android app
At CES two years ago, Tidal enabled studio-quality music streaming on desktop through a partnership with MQA. The feature later arrived on Essential Phone and LG V30, and even more people will be able to access Tidal's master recordings, as they're now available on all devices running Android 5.0 or above.
Spotify is giving brands more control over ads in Discover Weekly
It's no secret that Discover Weekly is a popular personalized playlist for Spotify users. The custom playlist the streaming service builds based on your listening habits each week quickly amassed tens of millions of users after its introduction in 2015. Ads have been included on the playlist for a while if you have a free account, but now Spotify is giving brands the ability to completely customize the sponsored messages that appear in its most popular playlist.
Sphero gets into app-enabled music gadgets with the Specdrums ring
Back in June 2018, Sphero acquired Specdrums, a startup that found Kickstarter success with music-making rings. As part of that deal, we knew Sphero would be working on its own version of the product, and today the company's making it official. The new but familiarly named Specdrums are app-supported rings that let you, or your kids, play music by tapping the wearable instruments on different colors and surfaces. There are hundreds of customizable sounds and loops, all of which are created by tapping the Specdrums rings on the included playpad and other colored items around you.
Pandora iOS update adds offline playback for Apple Watch
Pandora just became more commute friendly for Apple Watch users. The music streaming service has updated its iOS app and added offline playback for the wearable, apparently due to popular demand. Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to access the new feature without the need for a phone, since it's exclusively available to paying customers. They'll have to be a Pandora Plus (for $5 a month) or Premium (for $10 a month) subscriber to be able enjoy offline content on the Watch. In addition, they'll have to upgrade to watchOS 5 to be able to install the update.
YouTube will livestream both weekends of Coachella in April
YouTube is doubling down on its Coachella partnership -- it will stream live performances from both weekends for the first time this year. As has been the case in recent years, the service will stream the festival's first weekend, which takes place April 12th-14th. This time around, YouTube will host a "curated live experience" on the second weekend, including select performances, artist vignettes and behind-the-scenes footage.

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