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This isn’t a spec refresh – it’s a completely new technology platform.

The British manufacturer rebuilds its mid-range line from the ground up, aiming to deliver high-end features on a home studio budget.

Audient has launched the next generation of its iD range of audio interfaces, built on what the company is calling the Analogue Intelligence platform, bringing together Audient’s analogue mic preamps with onboard DSP, monitor correction and new tone-shaping tools.

The range is made up of four USB-C bus-powered interfaces, the iD1, iD2, iD2+ and iD4+, each replacing an existing model. The new names refer to the number of mic preamps onboard, while the plus models add balanced hardware inserts, ADAT output and more advanced monitor control.

The preamps in question are Audient’s Console Mic Preamps, based on the discrete Class-A preamp design from the company’s ASP8024-HE console, and delivering 75dB of gain, up from 58/60dB on the previous generation. The range’s converters are 32-bit with 128dB of dynamic range, and the maximum sample rate has risen from 96kHz to 192kHz.

Audient has brought over its Orbit Control tech from the recently launched Horizon range, giving you control over the preamp’s impedance and bringing different characters out of your microphone. This is part of what Audient is calling the Analogue Tone Suite, which comprises three additional tone-shaping tools designed to colour sounds at the source: HMX introduces harmonic saturation, LIFT adds high-frequency sheen and GLOW combines the two.

The headline upgrade in iD’s third gen is RoomTune, Audient’s new proprietary monitor correction software – this adjusts the signal sent to your monitors to compensate for your room’s acoustics, helping you achieve a more balanced mix. RoomTune runs on the interface’s DSP, applying system-wide correction to everything played through your speakers. You’ll need Audient’s RM1 reference mic to get set up, which is included with the iD2+ and iD4+ and sold separately for £39.99. Headphone correction is on the way in a future update.

The onboard DSP that handles RoomTune also runs hardware-accelerated effects, letting you apply EQ, compression and reverb to input signals with no latency without using your CPU. Smartgain, which has been borrowed from Audient’s EVO range, sets input levels automatically, and you’re now able to recall preamp settings digitally too.

“With the next-gen iD range, we’ve built a range around four things most interfaces in its class can’t offer: real analogue preamps, built-in RoomTune™ Monitor Correction, onboard DSP FX and a discrete Analogue Tone Suite,” Audient’s Chief Product Officer Andrew Allen said in a press release. “This isn’t a spec refresh – iD is a completely new technology platform built on our Analogue Intelligence Platform.”

What’s New in MK3:

• RoomTune™ Monitor Correction: Entirely new to the iD range, built into every MK3 model.
• Analogue Tone Suite: ORBIT, HMX, LIFT and GLOW are all-new tonal shaping options, not present on previous generations.
• Hardware-Accelerated DSP FX: Onboard EQ, Compression and Reverb processed by the interface, not your computer.
• Elite 32-bit Conversion: New converter generation, 128dB Dynamic Range.
• Smartgain: Automatic input level setting, new across the range.
• Dedicated Hardware Monitor Controls: On iD2+ and iD4+.
• Full Performance Over USB-C Bus Power: No AC adapter required, even on the iD4+.

Audient iD2, iD2+ and iD4+ are available now, and iD1 will be available in early 2027.

• Audient iD1 priced at 199.99
• Audient iD2 priced at $299.99
• Audient iD2+ priced at $499.99
• Audient iD4+ priced at $699.99

Find out more on Audient website.

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Akai MPC 3.10.1 Update opening up new possibilities.

MPC 3.10.1 takes standalone music production further, giving users more freedom to create, experiment, and bring your ideas to life. Discover new sounds with custom plugins built using Akai free official Software Development Kit.

AI-assisted ‘vibe coding’ is rapidly changing the music technology landscape and established brands are being forced to make quick decisions about how they are going to react.

While the phenomenon of users creating their own DIY firmware, mods or plugins isn’t necessarily anything new, both the volume and speed of these community projects has accelerated rapidly in recent weeks. Now, user communities are often developing ideas and new features for their hardware at a pace the official developers can’t match.

The question for music tech brands is, how do you respond to this? While some hardware developers are so far choosing to ignore or actively block DIY firmware, others, including the likes of Behringer and Polyend, have made moves to embrace community development.

Akai is another brand that falls into this latter category. While teasing its upcoming Sample Key hardware last month, the company signposted its intention to move towards making elements of its product line open source. In the weeks since, we’ve seen the first glimmers of what this might look like in practice, and now with its latest MPC update, Akai is making good on its promise of opening up the MPC ecosystem.

With the launch of software update 3.10.1, Akai is now letting users create their own custom plugins for the MPC and Force hardware, assisted by the newly released SDK (software development kit). The update also unlocks the MPC platform’s ‘enhanced development’ features, which lifts limitations on plugin and track counts within the hardware, as well as adding mouse support.

In a video announcing the update, Akai Pro’s Andy Mac explains the need to balance the creative possibilities offered by AI-assisted coding with the risk of cutting corners. While, as he acknowledges, AI tools allows the company itself to speed up elements of development, that doesn’t mean the company will be churning out updates to keep up with the community.

“Faster development doesn’t mean taking shortcuts,” Mac says, “the same focus on testing, stability, and reliability remains essential before we put any releases into the hands of the community.”

Alongside the update to the bigger MPCs, the MPC Sample gets an update to version 1.4. This adds a variety of new workflow features, but most significantly it also adds community development support and an official SDK to allow users to create their own effects for the unit.

Again, this is something of a middle ground approach to open source, which follows in the wake of numerous high-profile DIY firmware mods that have appeared for the MPC Sample in recent weeks, such as the popular SampQOL mod that, among other things, expands the device’s track and effect counts.

Akai isn’t ignoring these completely though, stating in the announcement video that the company is “already working alongside some of these new community developers, offering ongoing support” – which certainly seems to imply that some of those popular mods may become at least semi-official.

These updates aren’t purely about the SDKs, however. Another handy feature added to the MPC and Force range is the ability to mirror the touch interface and audio to a desktop computer, which is likely to be handy for streamers and content creators.

Akai is launching two new official plugins too. The first is an emulation of the classic SP-1200 vintage sampler, while the second is an SSL SL 4000-style channel strip plugin.

You can hear more about all of these updates in the video above, or visit the Akai site to download the latest firmware.

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Developer Matt Kuebrich has introdued Patchwerk – a project that transforms the M-Vave FM-1 into a patchable modular instrument, with 85 modules covering sound generation, processing, sequencing, sampling and modulation.

Patchwerk uses a virtual patch-cable system that allows users to connect module outputs to inputs, creating custom signal paths. Its module library includes oscillators, filters, envelopes, LFOs, effects, drum machines, samplers and granular instruments, as well as Casio CZ and TX81Z-style FM synthesis engines.

Patches can be created and edited directly on the FM-1 using its onboard controls. Alternatively, a browser-based emulator provides a larger visual patch bay, allowing users to build and play patches on a computer without connecting an FM-1. When connected over USB, changes made in the browser and on the hardware are synchronized in both directions.

Features:

• 85 modules, including oscillators, filters, envelopes, LFOs, effects, samplers and granular instruments.
• Casio CZ-style phase distortion and TX81Z-style FM synthesis engines.
• Multiple sequencers, including step, Euclidean, Turing and piano-roll sequencing.
• Sixteen snapshots per patch for storing and recalling sound configurations.
• Performance controls for assigning favorite parameters, muting modules and generating variations.
• Song mode for arranging snapshots and automating parameters over time.
• Four sample banks supporting user-loaded audio files and onboard recording.
• Browser-based emulator with a visual modular patch bay and bidirectional USB synchronization.
• Twelve display color palettes and a customizable user palette.
• Patch backup and restoration tools, including sample banks and settings.

Patchwerk is installed through its project website using a desktop version of Chrome or Edge and a USB connection to the FM-1. The installation process includes an option to restore the original M-VAVE firmware. Users are advised to back up their projects and samples before installing.

Patchwerk v1.0.3 is available as a free, open-source firmware project under the GPL-3.0 license. The browser-based emulator can also be accessed without an FM-1. Visit the Patchwerk website for the emulator, installation instructions and firmware download.

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