Spitfire announces their collaboration with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Reason11 announces Reason Studios. Forte Festival fubar. Manchester gets a new club. And a Leeds venue is saved.
Become your own conductor. British software company, Spitfire Audio has announced what has been teased this past few weeks, which is the availability and release of “BBC Symphony Orchestra” their latest standalone plug-in. As the name suggests, this huge library (their biggest to date) has been created in partnership with BBC Studios, the British television production and distribution company that is the commercial arm of the BBC and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Attack was there on Wednesday night to hear the keynote live at London’s Barbican Centre where what many consider the new standard in orchestral sampling was revealed. The BBC Symphony Orchestra can be preordered as a AAX-, AU-, and VST-compatible standalone plug-in that loads directly into a DAW and for a time-limited introductory promo price of £679.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$749.00 USD/€749.00 EUR (inc. VAT) until November 14, 2019. For more information visit the Spitfire website.
Festival Forte fubar. Several artists cancelled their performances at the sixth edition of Portugal’s Festival Forte this weekend due to payment issues. “Seems none of the artists is getting paid [sic] and the promoter of the festival is totally vanished,” Psyk wrote on Twitter about his decision to cancel alongside Reeko, going on to say “This is the most unprofessional thing that ever happened to me.” The four-day event took place at Castelo Montemor-O-Velho in Coimbra. The promoters admitted on Facebook that there were “a few problems with payments,” while saying the festival “maintains its commitment to pay every single artist that performs at the venue.” Courtesy, who also cancelled, said the organisers were also unable to provide transportation, and that the festival staff were left in “an extremely unfair and uncomfortable situation trying to deal with this while they hide from their responsibility.” She also apologised to the fans who came to see her, as did other DJs who cancelled their performances. In a statement to RA, Forte blamed low ticket sales for the payment issues.
Cotton Manchester. A new 200-capacity venue is opening in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Called Cotton, the space sits in a former printing press, and will reportedly prioritise gender- and LGBTQ+-balanced lineups. “We want Cotton to be a truly safe and inclusive space for all,” Cotton’s Anton Stevens said. “We believe that if you’re going to start something new, it should share the same modern values reflective of everyone that resides here.” Equipped with a Danley Sound Labs soundsystem, the club’s opening party will host Umwelt and Phoebe Valentine on Friday, September 13th, while Juan Atkins, Shackleton, rRoxymore, SPFDJ, Teki Latex, LSDXOXO, Photonz, IDA and feminist collective All Hands On Deck are part of the autumn programme.
More ADE acts announced. The second wave of acts for ADE have been revealed, with Avalon Emerson, Floorplan, Maya Jane Coles, upsammy, Ben Sims, Jayda G, DJ Bone, LSDXOXO, Donato Dozzy, Gerd Janson, Skee Mask, Wata Igarashi, Solid Blake and Surgeon among those now performing. Meanwhile, Elena Colombi, Nastia and Hannah Wants have been confirmed as conference speakers. The 24th edition of ADE runs from October 16th through 20th, and features day and night programming, as well as the ADE Sound Lab conference, ADE Live, and ADE Green. More than 2,500 artists and 600 speakers will take part, and some 400,000 visitors are expected. Head to the ADE website for more info.
Aussie festivals saved? A parliamentary inquiry could be the answer music festivals in New South Wales have been waiting for. Back in February, the state government enacted controversial licensing regulations that local meemed a “war on festivals.” The regulations would force promoters to pay for policing and other costs, which at times exceeded $200,000 and forced several events to cancel. The latest 108-page report found the regulations constituted “significant and unsustainable cost increases for the music festival industry,” and recommends the Legislative Council “disallow” the regulations entirely, while calling for a “regulatory roundtable for music festivals” to be established. The Labor Shadow Minister for Music, John Graham, said he welcomes “the report and its findings,” The Music Network reports. “We don’t support the hastily developed music festival licence,” he continued. “It has done tremendous damage to the music sector, here and around the country. Importantly, we need a new regime in place for the upcoming summer festival season. The government should meet with the industry to immediately get this in place.”
Reason Re-wired. For the first time in its near-20 year history, Reason is now available as a plug-in for use in any DAW. Initially Reason was released as a standalone studio rack emulator but as of next month with Reason Rack — which will be initially be available only in VST3 format before an AU version is released later this year — users can import Reason into Ableton, Logic or any other DAW for improved workflow. Reason Rack is bundled with Reason 11, which is out September 25th, and comes with several improvements, as well as a master buss compressor and a new channel EQ. Price starts at $99 for the intro version, and the Suite runs at $599. Check out the promo video below for more info.
Next Stop….2025. Leeds club The Old Red Bus Station (AKA ORBS) has won a victory for clubland. The The 400-capacity space — in its fourth year of its current five-year lease — was nearly forced shut by developers to make way for a car park. Citing the building’s heritage and need for protection, the plan was vetoed, and the lease has been extended until 2025. ORBS was originally launched in 2015 by Immi Cardy and Rikines Andrin as a pop-up venue and vegan cafe. It’s known for hosting cutting edge electronic music, and in the next few weeks will see visits from Om Unit, Gwenan, Peverelist, and liquid drum & bass duo Artificial Intelligence on October 5th. More info here.