Tech Reviews: New products (May 2021)
Tim Hallas
Saturday, May 1, 2021
MT's technology editor Tim Hallas selects his top picks for May.
Music, Makers & Machines
Price: Free!
Google has recently announced the launch of an online exhibition that showcases the history, legacy and influence of electronic music. Over 50 different museums have contributed material to the virtual presentation; it includes videos, documents, augmented and virtual reality sections.
The website was always designed as an educational resource and contains a number of lesson plans that explore some of the included material. The centre piece of the virtual exhibition is an augmented reality section that allows users to play virtual examples of some of the ‘classic’ pieces of electronic music hardware. Google has also collaborated with some of the museums to create Street View tours of their facilities. This will be a great resource that I will be using a lot!
Satellite Plugins 2.0
Price: Free!
Satellite Plugins 2.0 is a small device that allows users to collaborate remotely over the Internet regardless of what operating system, which DAW, or any other software people are using. Satellite Plugin simply sits on either an audio or MIDI track in your DAW and uploads that audio to a shared cloud project.
Other users can then load the plugin in their session, upload their own fi les, download yours and record over the top of it. It's not quite 100 per cent real-time collaboration over the Internet – but it's close. I saw this and thought it could be great for students who are at home to continue working with their peers at school. Provide them with a free DAW and this plugin, and group work can continue remotely.
Beatport DJ
Price: Free with limited features; Beatport Link costs £10.90 a month
Beatport DJ is a browser-based piece of DJ software, track and sample library. Not one of the go-to pieces of DJ software that most users will be familiar with, but it's designed to be quick to use for DJ set preparation and DJ practice. Because the software runs entirely in the browser, anybody can access the software without having to install it on their computer.
One of the benefits of the app being browser-based is that there are all sorts of nice features that allow users to discover new music. There are links to the latest charts and genres etc. The app is designed to run in Chrome but will run in other browsers with reduced functionality. It could be a great piece of software for students looking to explore DJ skills in music lessons.
Roam
Price: £159
Sonos is well known for its home audio Bluetooth systems and its latest offering is called the Roam. The Roam is Sonos’ smallest speaker so far and features clever technology that analyses the acoustic space in which it finds itself and adjusts the sound appropriately so that it always sounds the best it can.
This could be very useful for music lessons that get re-roomed into a science lab or a hall, or for a peri teacher who suddenly finds themselves teaching in a cupboard with all the PE equipment (I have literally done this). The Roam will adjust the playback appropriately to always sound the best it can. It also has a 10-hour battery: plenty long-enough for a day of teaching.