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Muse Group has announced upgrades to Muse Hub and Audacity, making it easier for users to preview and use new sounds, loops and FX plug-ins. As before, both of these are free to download.

Audacity 3.6 has been given a visual refresh, and the software also gets a new master channel. New compressor and limiter effects have been added for you to put across it. We are informed to expect more “major improvements and features” in the upcoming Audacity 4.

Muse Hub has partnered with developers — including Solid State Logic, Baby Audio, ACE Studio, WavTool and others – to offer a variety of production tools, including:

• Standalone Apps: From accessible Muse Group favorites to AI music composition and podcast production tools. These include apps that transform MIDI into vocal parts or split recorded samples into MIDI stems for projects.
• Plug-ins: Compatible with Audacity or any third-party DAW, Muse Hub plug-ins range from virtual instruments to easily-tweaked effects.
• Muse Sounds: Designed for effortless, beautiful playback within notation apps MuseScore Studio, find unique editions of prestigious sample libraries from iconic sound designers Spitfire Audio, Orchestral Tools, Vienna Symphonic Library and more.
• Loops & Samples: Royalty-free and ready-made samples, sound effects, tracks and kits to drop directly into productions to create instant hits.

New apps in the updated Muse Hub include Ace Studio, Samplab and WavTool, all of which are powered by AI.

Ace Studio enables you to automatically turn MIDI and lyrics into a complete vocal track, which sounds impressive, while Samplab can change an audio sample’s key or break apart the stems.

WavTool is an “AI-powered DAW” that can generate audio and separate stems. It also comes with a library of presets.

On the plugin side, Muse Group’s own AmpKit guitar amp//effects studio is now part of the Muse Hub, and Baby Audio’s Crystalline has also been added. The inclusion of SSL’s VocalStrip2 also catches the eye.

Finally, there are new sounds: a special edition of Spitfire Audio’s Symphony Collection, cinematic sounds from Cinesamples and orchestral ensembles and soloists from Orchestral Tools.

Audacity 3.6 has also been updated to support the Muse Hub changes.

In addition to a long-awaited visual refresh, the free desktop app now includes a new master channel for adding production and effects to tracks.

Both Muse Hub and Audacity are both available now as free downloads.

Find out more about all of these products and more on the Muse Group website.

Developer Geert Bevin (Moog Music, LinnStrument, the MPE Specification) has released a new tool, ShowMIDI 1.0.0, that turns MIDI information into beautiful and easy to understand visuals.

Most MIDI tools display the protocol’s messages as essentially a ‘firehose’ of data, which can make it challenging to understand. ShowMIDI parses and visualizes the data, translating the stream of details into concise charts and visualizations that make it much easier to understand.

“Instead of wading through logs of MIDI messages to correlate relevant ones and identify what is happening, ShowMIDI visualizes the current activity and hides what you don’t care about anymore,” explains Bevin. “It provides you with a real-time, glanceable view of all MIDI activity on your computer.”

Best of, it’s free and available now for iOS, Linux, Mac + Windows.

ShowMIDI is designed to be always on. Using the spacebar or play/pause button, you can pause the flow and focus on a data snapshot with the latest state of any MIDI entity.

ShowMIDI can be run as a standalone application that automatically detects all your MIDI devices, or as an AUv3 plugin in your DAW or host to visualize MIDI data in your sessions.

ShowMIDI visualizes:

• MIDI ports
• channels
• program change
• note on/off
• channel pressure
• polyphonic pressure
• continuous control change
• pitchbend
• RPN and NRPN
• MPE configuration and channel modes

In addition to being free, ShowMIDI is available as open source via Github.

Free X-Stream spectral synth can ‘turn any samples into smooth evolving soundscapes and textures’

If you like to experiment with new sound design ideas, you’re going to love this freebie from Steinberg. Not just for ambient music!

Said to ‘turn any samples into smooth evolving soundscapes and textures,’ this works by stretching, looping and otherwise manipulating your audio using its spectral algorithms and effects. In fact, although playback is monophonic, you can actually feed X-Stream complete tracks if you wish, then get busy twisting them out of shape.

Also, pitch-shifted copies of your sample can be stacked up to create chords that can be played from just one note. You can modulate two parameters simultaneously on two different axes with the X-LFO, and it promises to be easy to create custom envelope shapes.

“With X-Stream, you can unfold the full spectrum of possible sounds from your sample collection,” says Senior Marketing Manager Florian Haack. “Hit play and your sample transforms into something new and beautiful, with different tones, colours and textures. It also works perfectly as a drone machine for ambient music, making it a creative tool for imaginative composers and sound designers in all genres. And all of that comes for free.”

X-Stream Audio Demo:

Although there’s a heavy emphasis on what X-Stream can do to your own samples, it also comes with more than 100 presets to get you started. It is important to note that the instrument is not a standalone plugin. The instrument runs inside either Steinberg’s HALion 7.1 workstation or the free HALion Sonic 7.1, both of which have just been updated. HALion 7.1 is available at a 50% discount until the end of July.

Whichever route you choose to take, X-Stream runs on Window and macOS and can be downloaded for free from the Steinberg website.