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Akai and Native Instruments are sort of like the Nintendo and Sega of music production. These long-time rivals offer many similar products, but some musicians get drawn to Akais MPC workflow while others choose NIs Maschine platform. Soon, folks may not have to choose at all. These two icons of the space are teaming up. The MPC platform will soon be home to Native Instruments sound packs. This means that if you currently use an MPC Live II or a Key 61, or any other number of standalone music-making machines by Akai, youll be able to pull up legit Native Instruments sounds for your tracks. This is a truly big deal. The MPC workflow is iconic and many genres of music wouldnt be the same without it. At the same time, NI is known for its top-tier instruments and sounds. Akai This collaboration bridges two iconic brands to provide creators with a fully integrated ecosystem, said Matt Dircks, CEO of Native Instruments. By combining Akais legendary hardware with our expansive sound libraries and tools, were pushing the boundaries of music creation. We spoke to legendary instrument designer Roger Linn, who originally invented the MPC platform all the way back in 1988, about this partnership. Hes no longer with Akai in an official capacity but said that putting NI instruments on Akai products will "really benefit both companies." He also said that the move perfectly positions MPC devices "to be the next standard musical instrument like the guitar or piano." Linn, who also invented modern digital music-making concepts like swing and quantization, heaped praise on newer MPC devices, as the platform has come a long way since the MPC60 in 1988. He says that products like the Live II are "still warm and fuzzy for the people who are familiar with the MPC, while moving toward a DAW (digital audio workstation)." The Native Instruments integration promises to make these products even warmer and fuzzier. The only caveat? MPC devices can only access Play Series instruments and official Expansions, which are genre-specific sound packs. You wont be able to pull up, say, the full Massive X synthesizer or Kontakt. All told, there are five instruments that will be available in the middle of February, along with five Expansions. These have all been expertly tailored for the MPC platform. More releases are likely to follow, assuming positive user feedback. We asked Native Instruments CPO Simon Cross if there are plans for compatibility in the other direction. Will the Native Instruments Maschine+ standalone groovebox be able to pull up Akai plugins and sound packs? There are no current plans, which is something of a bummer. Its a bit understandable, given that the company only has one standalone device, but still. Akai Finally, the partnership extends to MPK controllers. Akais line of MIDI controllers will soon integrate with Native Instruments Native Kontrol Standard (NKS). This means that Akai controllers will be able to seamlessly control all NKS-compatible plugins. The integration allows for pre-mapped controls and intuitive navigation directly from MPK devices. The software update drops at end of February. This expands controller compatibility to over 1,800 new instruments and plugins. The NKS standard is also coming to third-party controllers in the near future from companies like M-Audio, Novation and Korg, among others. To celebrate the burgeoning partnership, all current MPK Series owners will receive a free copy of Komplete 15 Select. This is a curated bundle of Native Instruments instruments and effects. Again, this is free for all MPK Series owners, and not just new purchasers. As for Linn, his company currently manufactures the ultra-expressive MIDI controller LinnStrument. The device tracks finger movements in five ways, to bring acoustic-like expressiveness to digital instruments. He also (relatively) recently co-designed one of my all-time favorite drum machines, the Tempest, along with MIDI and synthesizer luminary Dave Smith, who passed away in 2022. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/many-akai-devices-will-soon-support-native-instruments-sound-packs-140059822.html?src=rss
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Plex is kicking off the year with some updates that could make the streaming platform a more social place. Viewers will be able to leave public reviews on titles and to comment on other users' assessments. "To us, discovery isnt just about finding what to watch, but also about finding more friends and fans like you in the process," the company said in a blog post announcing the new features. Public reviews expand on the social features Plex introduced in October. The expanded reviews are paired with some new privacy options. Plex users can make their profiles visible to others in search, allowing anybody to see their reviews and ratings, as well as their watchlist and viewing history. Users will be findable in search by default unless they have previously changed that setting. Plex is also letting users set how broadly visible their ratings and reviews will be; this setting ranges from totally public to all logged in Plex users to friends of friends to friends only to private. Plex has been working on a redesign of its app for a long time, and today the company will begin previewing the new look on Apple TV. More platforms will be added to the preview "soon." The blog post cautioned that the Apple TV preview is still preliminary and encouraged users to provide feedback. The new look emphasizes more artwork and visuals, as well as offering more intuitive navigation through the library. Finally, Plex is ready to make its HEVC encoding available to members of its Plex Pass membership. This option offers improved visual quality at a lower bitrate, and it preserves HDR metadata.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/plex-update-adds-public-reviews-and-profiles-140050631.html?src=rss
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We finally know when Sonic will grace movie theaters again: Paramount has announced Sonic The Hedgehog 4 will arrive on March 19, 2027, Variety reports. The company confirmed the next installment back in December, but we only knew that Spring 2027 was its premiere goal. The first Sonic The Hedgehog movie premiered in early 2020, just before the world shut down. The third movie came out just before Christmas last year though Paramount had already announced its follow up was in the works. Similarly, it was first announced about two years before its final release date. If the pattern continues then we should get a trailer in late 2026. Each of the movies has done well at the box office, with Sonic The Hedgehog 3 currently grossing $218 million domestically and $422 million globally. Paramount also claims that the movies have driven another $180 million-plus from digital purchases and at-home rentals. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/sonic-the-hedgehog-4-will-arrive-on-march-19-2027-133002387.html?src=rss
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