Ins & outs

POWER TO THE PEOPLE What do you do if you’re a developer who can’t decide which filter to use in your new soft synth? If you’re u-he, you let people download a free Alpha version featuring five filter types and let people vote for their favourite. The customer is always right, after all. DAVE SMITH MEETS PIONEER Speaking of filters, who expected Dave Smith to provide two of the analogue variety for Pioneer DJ’s new standalone Toraiz SP-16 pad sampler/groovebox? In fact, who expected Pioneer DJ to announce that kind of product at all? KEY SWITCHING It’s easy to change the sound that you’re playing with your controller keyboard, but how about changing the weighting of the keys to feel like a grand piano, organ or synth? That’s the premise behind the Porsche-designed Alpha MPiano, which is apparently going into production. R.I.P. PRINCE Even in a year when we’ve said goodbye to so many musicians, it’s hard to think of a greater loss than Prince. Whether writing,g producing, playing or performing, he invariably excelled, and his death leaves a gaping creative hole that simply won’t be filled. FLUSHED AWAY It transpires that Kanye West hit a major stumbling block during the making of his recent album

The Life of Pablo. His daughter North flushed his iPhone – which contained all his lyrics – down the toilet. Apparently, no Apple ‘Genius’ could retrieve them. KEEP THE NEEDLE UP Vinyl may be back, but a survey undertaken by ICM and shared with the BBC suggests that almost half the people buying it aren’t actually playing it. In fact, the research found that 7% of vinyllovers questioned didn’t even own a record player. Go figure.