Lunacy Audio has released Nova, a platform where developers can create and sell music software instruments assembled from premade effects blocks and AI prompts rather than traditional code. The launch includes 10 initial plug-ins, ranging from lo-fi cassette-style synths to ambient drone generators, built by Lunacy and select partners. A companion host plugin lets users load and switch between Nova instruments inside their digital audio workstation, and instruments can also run in a browser without one.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-17
Microsoft released an out-of-band update this week for Windows 11 versions 26H2, 25H2, and 24H2 to fix an audio bug that broke sound on older USB devices using the legacy Audio Class 1.0 driver. The flaw, introduced by the September 8 security update, left affected headsets and speakers silent, with unresponsive volume controls or a Device Manager error. The new patch also resolves several other recent issues alongside a couple of security flaws.
zdnet.com
· 2026-09-16
A developer reprogrammed the firmware of IK Multimedia's iRig HD X USB audio interface to run NAM A2-Lite, a compact neural amp-modeling engine, directly on the device's built-in 500 MHz NXP Cortex-M7 processor. Instead of streaming guitar audio to a computer or phone for amp simulation, the interface now processes a 5150-with-OD808 amp model in real time internally, fitting the engine into 128 KiB of FlexRAM and measuring performance close to the original NAMCore software.
playtaurus.com
· 2026-09-16
Google has broadened NotebookLM's real-time voice conversation feature to support close to 100 languages, letting users talk with their notebooks beyond English. The update also adds audio recording capabilities and interactive Learning Overviews to help users engage with their materials in more ways.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-16
Spotify's new Lossless tier delivers CD-quality, uncompressed audio, but Bluetooth connections can't transmit a true lossless signal, meaning wireless earbuds and speakers won't benefit. Listeners need wired headphones, USB-C earbuds, wired computer speakers, or Wi-Fi-based Spotify Connect devices to actually hear the improved quality, and even then, cheap audio hardware may not reveal a noticeable difference.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-15
A new comparison examines the practical differences between passive wired speaker setups and wireless Bluetooth systems, focusing on modularity, latency and cable management. It notes that wired systems let users swap components like amplifiers or speakers independently, while removing Bluetooth transmission delay from the audio chain. The piece also cautions that cables alone don't guarantee better sound quality if the source audio is already compressed.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-15
Apple Music and Spotify both include adjustable audio quality and equalizer settings that can noticeably improve sound on an iPhone. Users can raise streaming quality tiers in each app's settings menu, then fine-tune sound using built-in EQ presets or custom sliders. Volume normalization features like Apple's Sound Check and Spotify's Volume normalization can also be toggled to balance loudness across tracks.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-15
Google unveiled two new Gemini models focused on real-time voice interaction: Gemini 3.8 Live, designed for scalable, cost-efficient conversational AI, and Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, aimed at complex multi-step reasoning tasks. Both models are meant to power more natural voice agents and improve spoken interactions across the Gemini app, Google Workspace, and Search.
blog.google
· 2026-09-15
Apple has unveiled 'Audio Intelligence,' a feature for upcoming Apple Watches that continuously listens to and transcribes nearby conversations, then summarizes them daily. Although Apple has built in some privacy safeguards for the watch wearer, anyone speaking near a person using this feature could be recorded and transcribed without their knowledge or consent.
dallincrump.com
· 2026-09-15
Apple has removed the double-click Digital Crown shortcut that let users instantly jump between apps on Apple Watch in watchOS 27. The company reassigned that same gesture to trigger Live Rewind, a new Audio Intelligence feature that generates a 15-second transcript of recent spoken audio, but Live Rewind only works on the upcoming Series 12 and Ultra 4 hardware.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-15
Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses include an Audio Only mode that disables the built-in screen entirely while driving, functioning like the standard Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses. Users retain hands-free calling and voice commands but lose all visual overlays, since the glasses were not built for real-time turn-by-turn navigation.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-15
Apple Music lets users set separate audio quality levels for cellular, Wi-Fi, and downloads within iPhone Settings under Apps > Music > Audio Quality. This allows listeners to save mobile data by keeping cellular playback at High Quality while reserving Lossless streaming for Wi-Fi or downloaded files. Bluetooth headphones don't support true lossless playback, and Hi-Res Lossless requires an external DAC for sample rates above 48kHz.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-14
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