Denon DJ has announced a new controller unit that’s designed to take over the second layer of your SC6000 Prime or work alongside your DJ software of choice. It’s designed to look a lot like the SC6000 without a screen, with an 8.5-inch jog wheel, eight cue and performance pads, a needle drop strip and an on-jog screen with artwork. 

Headphone manufacturer AIAIAI and UK independent label Ninja Tune have teamed up on a new pair of headphones made from the imprint’s own recycled vinyl. The headphones feature Bluetooth 5.0 and are based on the existing TMA-2 model that is popular among DJs and producers. The headphones come with both on-ear and over-ear vegan leather cushions and last for up to 20 hours of use. 

Loopmasters has announced the latest update to its cloud sampling service Loopcloud. Version 6 sees a new major addition: AI search technology, meaning users can search for samples with more meaningful terms than just bpm and key, such as tone, stereo width, length, swing, rhythmic density, and more. It’s designed to make it easier to find samples that match your current project. 

Arturia has announced a new version of their popular plugin instrument Pigments. The synth covers many aspects of synthesis including subtractive, wavetable, and additive, and version three adds some new features including a new harmonic oscillator, 64 new wavetables, four new FX including pitch shift delay and a new type of flanger, a modelled Jupiter-8 filter from Arturia’s V Collection clone and new FX and filter routing. 

Apple introduced a new model of iMac featuring their M1 chips at their Spring Loaded event on April 20th. The new iMacs come in a redesigned slim model, with seven different colours and an improved 1080p FaceTime camera. The base model features 8GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage and can be upgraded to 16GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD. The entry-level model has two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, with a higher-end model adding two more USB-C ports. The headphone jack also remains. The new power cord also features an Ethernet port.

Technics has introduced a new direct drive turntable to their SL range – the 1200MK7. The new model is identical in feature set to the 1210MK7 introduced back in January 2019, but this new model features a silver faceplate as opposed to the 1210s matte black finish. 

Beatport is now accepting bitcoin as payment on its website from June, and has teamed up with Crypto.com on a new A/V NFT collaboration with Boys Noize, Charlotte de Witte, Sasha, Third Son, Sama Abdulhadi and more. The NFT collection will feature unreleased tracks from the artists involved alongside visual art from Berlin-based artist Leif Podhajsky who’s worked with Bonobo, Tame Impala and the Sydney Opera House. 

Richie Hawtin has teamed up with soundscape app Endel, under his Plastikman alias, to create a new AI-driven audio experience to help listeners focus. Endel is designed to promote deeper focus, better sleep, meditation and relaxation, and has previously teamed up with Grimes on ‘AI Lullaby’ for assisted relaxation for adults and children. Hawtin’s collab is called ‘Deeper Focus’ and is “a personalised, real-time adaptive soundscape that is infused with his trademark production, resulting in a spacious, stripped-back soundscape that improves users' focus and productivity.” 

Facebook is launching a new series of audio products in Summer 2021. The new products include a competitor to the upstart audio-only social media platform Clubhouse called Live Audio Rooms, a new audio feed called Soundbites and a partnership with Spotify that lets users stream podcasts directly through Facebook using a new integrated player. Facebook will also recommend podcasts to users based on their Likes and listening habits.