This is the second of a two-part video feature on integrating your Elektron synthesizers, samplers and drum machines with Ableton Live on your Mac.

In this video, we’ll show you how to use the brand new Overbridge 2 app and plugin to record up to eight tracks simultaneously over a single USB connection. We’ll also dive into FX routing on the Elektron’s Digitakt sampling drum machine, which is powerful but confusing at first. Finally, we’ll explain how to use the Overbridge plugin to sync Ableton and the Digitakt, and to record loops through a normal analog mixer.

Americans love Apple’s video chatting app FaceTime, according to the results of a survey released Wednesday. But they don’t use it for group chats. As a result, use of FaceTime hasn’t increased at all while millions of people around the world self quarantine.

Instead, rival Zoom has enormously increased in popularity in recent weeks.

Someone sends you a link that looks like this:

https://youtu.be/rZdrlpz3MOo

What do you do? Well, that one is probably safe, as it uses YouTube’s own URL shortener. But what about all those other shortened URLS you see in emails, on Twitter and everywhere else? They could link to anything. A cautious person never clicks on links in emails. And only an insane person would click on shortened links in emails. That’s why you need today’s shortcut, which lets you expand a URL, preview the actual link, and then tap a button to either open it or dismiss it.

The just-released iPad Pro Magic Keyboard costs more than some iPads, and it’s possible to get AppleCare+ repair insurance for it. Just not directly.

Purchasing AppleCare+ adds accidental damage coverage to an iPad, as well as some Apple-branded accessories. That includes keyboards, like the very expensive one that debuted last week.

Facebook Messenger Kids, the free chat app designed specifically for your little ones, on Wednesday expanded its reach to more than 70 new markets and added a number of helpful new features.

It’s now possible for parents to give kids control over their contacts (if they wish), and for kids to join approved groups. The changes come at a time when many children are out of school and unable to see friends.

A redesigned iMac, a more affordable HomePod, and a powerful new Apple TV are just some of the products Apple has planned for 2020, according to one reliable reporter.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also revealed expectations for the 5G iPhone lineup, scheduled to launch this fall, and for a 14-inch MacBook Pro during a Twitter Q&A with followers on Tuesday.

The iPhone SE, with its iPhone 8 form factor, proves that you can teach an old dog new tricks. With the first reviews for the new handset having hit the internet, pundits are in agreement that, well, the iPhone SE is pretty darn great.

In fact, if Apple’s made any kind of misstep it may have been showing us that you can get a pretty amazing iPhone for the price of a mid-level handset. Here’s what the initial reviewers are saying:

Flowcharts are one of the easiest tools for charting ideas and deciding next steps. Too bad they’re not always very easy to create. So this tool cuts through the clutter and makes the task of creating flowcharts quick and simple.

San Francisco-based cybersecurity company ZecOps says that iPhones and iPads may be vulnerable to a flaw involving the Mail app, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Unlike most email-based phone hacks, which involve making someone click a link or visit a website, this exploit does not require victims to do anything other than download (although not necessarily open) an email. It nonetheless could let hackers install malicious software on their devices.

A ZecOps blog post on the topic says that the vulnerability has existed in Apple’s mobile software as far back as iOS 6.

We know Apple makes some of the prettiest packaging you’ll ever find wrapped around electronics, but it’s really just trash when you’re done with it. Samsung has found a terrific way to make its packaging useful.

Boxes built for the company’s newest TV sets can be turned quickly and easily turned into cardboard cat houses, small furniture, and other useful things when you’re done with them.

Zoom calls have exploded during the current coronavirus lockdown. But if you’ve already exhausted the possibilities of different angles and backdrops for your video calls, why not try being a different person entirely? You know, like former Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs.

At least, that’s the tech demo/experiment created by coders Ali Aliev and Karim Iskakov. They’ve developed an Animoji or Memoji-style tool called Avatarify that lets users superimpose a real-time mask onto themselves during video calls.

A new beta version of the Facebook app for iOS contains hidden resources that suggest a dark mode is on its way to iPhone and iPad.

The feature is expected to work in tandem with the system-wide dark mode settings on iOS for automatic activation and deactivation, but users should be able to toggle it manually, too.

Sen. Josh Hawley wants Apple and Google to have some skin in the game when it comes to keeping data private in their joint coronavirus contact-tracing project. Hawley’s idea? That the Apple and Google CEOs — Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, respectively — should take personal responsibility for ensuring the data is kept private.

“If you seek to assure the public, make your stake in this project personal,” the Republican senator from Missouri wrote Tuesday in a letter to Cook and Pichai. “Make a commitment that you and other executives will be personally liable if you stop protecting privacy, such as by granting advertising companies access to the interface once the pandemic is over.”

T-Mobile is wasting no time expanding — and solidifying — its 5G network in the U.S. following its recently completed merger with Sprint. The two companies, now one, are combining their networks following the landmark merger.

On Tuesday, T-Mobile announced that its 5G 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum is now live in parts of Philadelphia, offering T-Mobile customers with compatible 5G phones the opportunity to take advantage of the new super-speedy connectivity — with peaks of nearly 600 Mbps.

A set of concept 3D renders released Tuesday depict all the latest iPhone 12 rumors, including a recent report that this upcoming handset will have a substantially smaller screen cutout.

The images also include other features widely expected to be part of the autumn 2020 iPhone, like a LiDAR scanner.

Apple and its Apple TV+ streaming service could only dream of numbers this big.

Call it the ‘Tiger King effect’ or whatever you like, but Netflix benefited from the stay-at-home, shelter-in-place directive by adding 15.77 million new subscribers worldwide in the first quarter, according to earnings results released Monday.

One way to score a deal on the the latest Apple Watch Series 5 is buy a unit that someone purchased then returned to Apple. These get rigorously refurbished, then are offered to the public at up to 15% off the regular price.

Tuesday is the first day Series 5 units have been available refurbished.

Apple is going to increase the sizes of the displays in the 2020 iPad Air and an iMac model also coming later this year, according to an unconfirmed report coming out of Asia.

But neither of these will be MiniLED screens, as Apple will reportedly not have any computer using this type of display until 2021.

Overbridge 2 is an amazing new app/plugin from Swedish drum machine and synthesizer maker Elektron. As its name suggests, it acts as a bridge between your computer and Elektron’s hardware boxes.

Using Overbridge, you can plug in, say, the Digitakt drum computer and sampler, and stream all eight of its audio tracks to your Mac or PC over a single USB cable.

If your music career or business would be boosted by meeting with someone high up at Apple Music, then this is your lucky day. Three high-level executives at Apple’s music streaming service are auctioning off private meetings.

Proceeds from these auctions go to the Pablove Foundation, which invests in pediatric cancer research.

The cameras in Huawei smartphones are class-leading. Yet, the company was caught again using a photo shot with a DSLR in an ad to promote pictures produced with their handsets.

Best, of all, the gaffe was discovered by the winner of an iPhone photography contest.

Apple famously boasts the greatest attention to detail in consumer technology. Some say it’s been disappearing over the years, but if you look for it, you’ll find plenty of examples today.

Take the new ad for iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard, for instance. Pause it at just the right moment and you’ll see the time Steve Jobs announced the very first iPhone beautifully reflected in the eye of a hummingbird.

Got Bluetooth problems like a glitchy mouse or an unreliable keyboard? Maybe a screwy trackpad or poor headphone connection? Any of those problems could result from a glitch in your Mac’s Bluetooth radio. Maybe you’ve already tried everything — unpairing your devices, resetting them or even creating a pristine new user account on your Mac solely for troubleshooting purposes. If you’re stuck in a situation where your mouse isn’t working, here’s a guide on how to turn Bluetooth on Mac without mouse.

You may even know about the hidden Bluetooth menu that appears when you option-click on the Bluetooth menu bar icon. But did you know that there’s another, deeper, super-hidden menu with extra troubleshooting tools? There is. Here’s how to fix Bluetooth problems when nothing else seems to work.

The first iPhone with 5G reportedly won’t debut alongside the other new iOS handsets early this autumn. Trusted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts Apple will begin producing a pair of 4G handsets in September, but won’t start making the 5G model until October.

Kuo also says an iPhone SE Plus with a larger screen than the current one might come out far later than he originally thought.

Apple TV+ has picked up the shortform adventure series Fraggle Rock: Rock On from the Jim Henson Company and in an unusual move, released the first episode Wednesday with little notice.