Ed Sheeran is currently running the Asia leg of his widely acclaimed Mathematics Tour, and for anyone whos seen it (I literally caught his show last Saturday), you know exactly what a phenom the man is. Artists usually put a lot of effort into their tours, creating a production with props, lights, stage design, dancers, etc. Sheeran is nothing like other artists. He comes up on stage with nothing but a guitar and a loop pedal, and sings every single song from scratch without as much as a backup band, chorus, or even a dance troupe.Sheerans magic lies entirely in his talent and how he works the loop pedal. Every show is unique because he records guitar pieces to the pedal, loops them, plays a song, and then erases everything at the end of the performance. The next day, he does the same thing from scratch, creating an entirely new experience. Its like watching a one-man orchestra, layering beats, harmonies, and riffs in real-time, turning simple loops into fully fleshed-out songs. All that magic is courtesy Sheeran, his guitar, a custom-built Chewie II looper pedal, a MIDI controller running software loops in Ableton. The simplicity of Sheerans stage setup means technically anyone with talent and a sense of rhythm can pull it off. The bad news? Sheerans loop pedal, the crown jewel, isnt something you can simply buy off the shelf. The good news? If youve got some DIY spirit, you can build something similar for under $200.Designer: Ed SutcliffeEd Sutcliffe, a live performer and tech tinkerer, wanted to recreate Sheerans looping setup but didnt want to drop thousands on a custom-built unit. He took matters into his own hands, researching, experimenting, and ultimately crafting his own version using an Arduino-based MIDI controller, Mobius software, and some cleverly repurposed hardware. The result? A fully functional loop pedal that lets a musician control multiple loops seamlesslyjust like the real thing.The pedal is built around Mobius, a powerful looping software that allows users to customize loops, layer tracks, and trigger different play modes. Sheerans Chewie II operates as a MIDI controller for Ableton, sending commands to loop, overdub, stop, and clear tracks. Sutcliffe figured out that by using an Arduino-based MIDI controller, he could send the same commands without the need for high-end proprietary hardware. He wired up a set of sturdy footswitches, programmed them to send MIDI signals, and routed them through a VGA cable to his computer running Mobius. The result? A budget-friendly loop station that mirrors Sheerans workflow without the hefty price tag.Watching Sheeran perform, Sutcliffe noticed that each button needed to have a specific function without requiring too much thought in the middle of a song. He settled on a nine-button layout: record, stop, undo, mode switch, four track selectors, and a clear button. The mode button toggles between recording and playback, meaning each track button serves different functions depending on the mode. This keeps the workflow smooth, allowing a musician to switch between layering loops and performing without hesitation.To house the electronics, Sutcliffe built a custom enclosure using MDF, sealing and painting it for durability. The buttons were spaced for easy access, ensuring that even in a high-energy live setting, foot control remained precise. Velcro-mounted sustain pedals acted as switches, making them easily replaceable in case of wear and tear. A small screen was added for feedback, displaying track status and loop progress, which is especially useful for multi-layered performances.Powering the pedal required a reliable connection, so he included a 9V 2A power supply with a standard DC jack, ensuring a stable power source. The electronics were kept relatively simplea few resistors, capacitors, and an ATmega328 microcontroller running custom Arduino firmware to handle MIDI commands. The entire cost of materials? Just under 150 (approximately $180).Once the hardware was in place, the real magic happened in software. Mobius allows for deep customization, so Sutcliffe wrote custom scripts to map each footswitch to the appropriate function. This meant pressing Track 1 in record mode would start recording while pressing it in play mode would toggle playback. The undo button let him remove mistakes in real-time, and the clear button wiped everything for a fresh start.Testing and tweaking were essential. Since timing is everything with looping, he fine-tuned latency settings and adjusted the MIDI response to make sure loops were seamless. After several iterations, he had a working unit that could handle live performances just like the commercial loop stationsonly this one was custom-built to fit his exact needs.For anyone looking to build their own, the process involves sourcing an Arduino (or a compatible microcontroller), setting up Mobius on a PC or Mac, and wiring footswitches to send MIDI commands. A basic understanding of electronics helps, but there are plenty of resources online for setting up MIDI controllers using Arduino. The key is experimentingfinding a layout that feels natural and adjusting the software to match your looping style. If you want to build your own Chewie-style loop pedal entirely from scratch, Sutcliffe has laid out all his schematics on Instructables for free.The post How To Make Your DIY Guitar Loop Pedal Like Ed Sheeran For Under $200 first appeared on Yanko Design.

On this special episode of Uncanny Valley, WIREDs politics editor and global editorial director catch us up on Elon Musks involvement in the Trump administration.

Elon Musk's takeover of US government agencies has happened at remarkable speeds. That's the point.

In an email to employees, the companys chief executive said the company had become bloated during its growth in recent years.

James Crispino, AIA New York ChapterThe American Institute of Architects selection of 83 member architects and 10 non-member architects to the AIA College of Fellows has been announced in recognition of their individual contributions to the profession.This year, Fellows were selected by a select Jury of Fellows that included Chair Carl D'Silva of Perkins&Will, HKS Julie Hiromoto, and eight others. Candidates must have at least 10 years of AIA membership and demonstrated influence in at least one of the several areas, including the promotion of "aesthetic, scientic, and practical efciency of the profession" and "advancement of the science and art of planning and building."Other criteria include having "dedicated oneself to a profession that continually grows in its service to society" or "Advanced the science and art of planning and building by advancing the standards of architectural education and training."The full list of new member Fellows and their AIA affiliation appears ...

The hype machine surroundingAvowedhas kept on chugging, which means new details on the action RPG continue to be revealed by Obsidian Entertainment and Microsoft. Weve covered a lot of those in previous features leading up to its release, but theres plenty more to talk about still. Here, then, were going to go over a few more key details that you should know about the game.NO LEVEL SCALINGRPG fans often tend not to be big fans of level scaling, which is what its called when enemies in a game level up alongside you. After all, whats the point of levelling up if you dont ever feel that gap against weaker enemies that youve left in your wake? Thankfully,Avowedwill let you feel that growth. Speaking with MinnMax, game director Carrie Patel confirmed that it wont feature level scaling, which means enemy levels wont scale up with you as you progress further in the game.NO TRADITIONAL CLASSESSpeaking of Obsidians obsession with player choice, in pursuit of maximizing agency,Avowedwill also not feature any traditional character classes. Rather than boxing your character into a defined category with its own abilities and limitations, the game will instead allow players to advance and progress their character the way they see fit. Speaking with Game Rant about the same, Patel said, What we did instead [of traditional character classes] is give players the freedom to make their character be whatever they want them to be. You can still go into the game with a specific character type in mind and make that character and play it that way, end to end. However, being locked into a single style is the players choice and not ours.SKILL TREESHow exactly will progression function inAvowed? We have, of course, gone over the basics in the past levelling up will earn you skill points that youll then invest across five different skill trees to unlock new abilities so lets dive a little deeper into the details. The Fighter tree will cover your melee combat, Ranged will cover your melee combat, and Wizard will cover your spells. Theres also a Companion tree for, well, all of your companions. Speaking of whichCHOICES AND COMPANIONSCompanion characters will have an important role to play inAvowed,as youd expect from an Obsidian title, and yes, theyll also be tied intrinsically to the games choice and consequence mechanics. Speaking with Xbox Wire, region director Berto Ritger explained that the choices players make will impact how your companions feel about you and whether they will stick around. Companions will react to and have their own thoughts and opinions on the decisions you make in both side and main quests, though how significantly youll be able to impact their stories remains to be seen.NO OPTIONAL COMPANIONSAs weve known for a while,Avowedwill have four core companion characters in Kai, Giatta, Marius, and Yatzli- and none of them will be missable. Speaking with MinnMax, game director Carrie Patel revealed that the game doesnt have any optional or missable companion characters. That said, outside of the core cast of four companions, there will seemingly also be other characters who will temporarily fight by your side at times.VOICE CASTAvowedsvoice cast for its companion characters boasts some notable names. Kai is being voiced by Brandon Keener, who is perhaps best known as the voice of Garrus Vakarian inMass Effect.Then theres Mara Junot, known for her roles inDestiny 2andMortal Kombat 1,among others, who plays Giatta. Marius is played by Scott Whyte, who is the voice of Captain Quark inRatchet and Clank: Rift Apart,and Crash inCrash Bandicoot 4: Its About Time. Finally, Yatzli is voiced by Anjali Bhimani, best known as Symmetra inOverwatch.CHARACTER BACKGROUNDSWhen creating your character inAvowed,youll select one of five different backgrounds for your character, which in turn will impact how characters in the game will interact and engage with you, in addition to providing unique dialogue options at certain moments. The Noble Scion background, for instance, will see you playing as a character from a noble family who decided to curry the Emperors favour after your familys prospects declined. With the War Hero background, on the other hand, youll play as someone who made a name for themselves in a particularly bloody battle.MORE CHARACTER BACKGROUNDSThose who like a little bit of deception and subterfuge in their playing style in RPGs will want to play as a Court Augur who has gone from back alley fortune-teller to personal mystic advising for the Emperor himself. Then theres the Vanguard Scout background, which will define your character as someone particularly skilled with tracking, spying, and the like. Finally, the Arcane Scholar background will cast you in the light of an expert scholar in service to the emperor.LORE GUIDEObsidian games are usually brimming with rich and fascinating lore, and withAvowedbeing set in the pre-established (and lore-heavy) setting ofPillars of Eternity, you can bet that that will continue to be the case here as well. For those with the inclination to engage more deeply with that aspect of the experience,Avowedwill also feature a lore guide similar toFinal Fantasy 16sActive Time Lore- one that youll be able to seamlessly pull up during conversations to find contextual lore and information on things being spoken about.MORE WEAPON VARIETYWe previously spoke about the different weapons in the game, but we now have more information on them. Player agency and choice mechanics are usually the bread and butter in RPGs where each decision matters, and while that will seemingly continue to be the case with Avowed, it seems like combat is also an area of focus for the title. Particularly impressive is the variety of weapons that the game is promising. We already spoke about swords, hammers, crossbows, wands and pistols but now we also have the likes of one-handed weapons like daggers, maces to two-handed ones like greatswords. Avowed will allow players to take on enemies with a variety of different weapons. As noted earlier, Dual-wielding will be a big feature too, and players will also be encouraged to mix and match and try different combos.ENDINGSObsidian hasnt yet said how many different endingsAvowedwill have, but some vague details are available on that front nonetheless. For instance, we know that the game has at least 10 different endingslides.Speaking with IGN, game director Carrie Patel explained that players can end up with a number of different combinations depending on their actions. I can tell you that our ending slides number in the double digits, and you can end up with a lot of different combinations of them. I mean, this is an Obsidian game, so your ending is really the sum total of your choices across the game, across a lot of pieces of content, depending on what you encountered and what you did when you found it.WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CREDITS ROLL?It seems like Avowed wont allow players to continue playing the game once the credits roll. Although this hasnt been officially confirmed, the developer in an interview with MinnMax confirmed that players can begin a new game after the credits roll and there is a point of no return in the game.EXPLORATION AND OPTIONAL CONTENTThis, of course, is an area where fans of RPGs (and Obsidian titles) usually have high expectations, andAvowedseems to be aiming high, too. Weve known for a while thatAvowedisnt open world, instead opting for a semi-open world structure that will see players travelling from large zone to large zone in sequential order. Each of these zones will also be brimming with optional content, secrets, and more, with the goal for Obsidian being that no two players have the same experience. Speaking with Xbox Wire, game director Carrie Patel said, We know that for the players who find those secrets and experiences, its going to give them that same sense of delight and surprise that it sounds like you experienced. What makes RPGs special, and what makesourRPGs special, is the idea that were building a lot of content. We know that no one player is going to have the exact same experience, and part of what makes it fun and rewarding is when you find something and think, I found this on my own, and I wonder how many other people did.'HOW DO REGIONS UNLOCK?Many RPGs allow the player to explore the world right off the bat. Will this be the case in Avowed? In an interview with RPGSite, the developer confirmed that the regions unlock in a specific order, however, players can backtrack for the most part, if they choose. So, you will have to progress through the game if you have to see every zone the game has to offer.GRAPHICS MODESGame director Carrie Patel has confirmed in an interview with MinnMax thatAvowedwill run at up to 60 FPS on Xbox Series X, and though further official details arent available, leaks have seemingly filled in the blanks. As per leaker extas1s on Twitter, the game will also feature 30 FPS and 40 FPS modes on Xbox Series X, both of which will also be available on Xbox Series S. On Series S, however, a 60 FPS option seemingly wont be available.

Ubisoft is banking heavily on Assassins Creed Shadows for success, especially after the underwhelming Star Wars Outlaws. Fortunately, despite multiple delays and some controversies, its pre-orders are tracking solidly, per its third-year fiscal year 2025 financials.Furthermore, theyre in line with that of Assassins Creed Odyssey, the franchises second-most successful title, with Valhalla being the first. Whether Shadows can achieve comparable launch sales to the latter remains to be seen, but thus far, previews have been positive.Assassins Creed Shadows launches on March 20th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. A new trailer recently outlined the games PC-exclusive features, including ray-traced reflections and ambient occlusion, support for XeSS 2.0 (alongside other upscalers and Frame Generation), and much more. Check out the system requirements for even more details.You can also hit up our feature, which provides new story information and explains how Canon Mode works. It also details how the development team will address the map bloat typically associated with Ubisoft open worlds.

Astronomer launches Astro Observe, an AI-powered data observability platform designed to prevent pipeline failures and optimize enterprise AI workflows by combining orchestration and monitoring in one solution.Read More

Lets face it. I died a lot in Split Fiction when I played it with a partner at a preview event held by Hazelight and Electronic Arts. But I got right back up and went back into the fray. And I really enjoyed my time with the split-screen co-op action adventure game. Split Fiction, is coming out on the consoles and PC on March 6, 2025, for $5Read More

Unions slam Bobby Kotick's claims that Activision Blizzard harassment reports were "fake""The trauma, discrimination, and abuse that our coworkers endured is not fake" News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Feb. 13, 2025 The Communication Workers Of America (CWA) has slammed former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick's claims that the numerous reports of harassment that allegedly took place when he was led the firm were "fake.""Bobby Koticks comments on a podcast uplifting billionaires are both insulting to the Activision workers who spoke out about the harassment they faced and unsurprising," a CWA spokesperson told RPS in an emailed statement. "Fortunately for workers, Kotick is gone and thousands of workers have organized unions with CWA without intimidation or interference and now have a voice at work."In a wide-ranging interview on the Grit podcast, Kotick also said the petition that called for his resignation signed by 1300 employees was "fake" and intimated CWA initiated the complaints after it "started looking at technology" and "were losing members at a really dramatic rate."In July 2021, The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, accusing the company of fostering a culture of harassment and discrimination against women. Then, in November of the same year, The Wall Street Journal published a report that alleged Kotick knew of sexual misconduct at Activision Blizzard for years.In May 2023, Kotick blamed the firm's image problems not on a toxic workplace culture that spawned numerous gender discrimination lawsuits from former employees and state and federal agencies alike, but "outside forces" and unionization supporters. By December, Kotick announced he was stepping down after 30 years."The claims Bobby Kotick presents in the podcast regarding the 'fake lawsuits' are false," a CWA spokesperson told RPS in an emailed statement."In 2021, Activision agreed to an $18 million dollar settlement with the EEOC following a lawsuit that Activision had sexually harassed and discriminated against its workforce. Bobby Kotick himself apologized in his own press release for the inappropriate conduct that happened under his watch."Alongside the settlement money, Activision also agreed to provide anti-harassment and anti-discrimination trainings, expand mental health counseling services to its workers, and provide victim-specific relief, as outlined in the EEOCs release on March 3, 2022," the statement added."Subsequently, in 2023, Activision reached a $54 million dollar settlement with the California Civil Rights Department (which was formerly known as the California State Department of Fair Employment and Housing, as Kotick references in the podcast) for discriminating against women in the workplace and for pay inequities.""The trauma, discrimination, and abuse that our coworkers and former coworkers endured is not fake or a 'plan to drive union membership'," added ABetterABK."Our unions were born from the very real and harmful way executives reacted when made aware of these situations."The executives of our company did not protect us, and often made the situation worse or directly perpetuated the harm. That is why we decided to stand up for ourselves and make our company better, a place where we truly lived by our core values and looked out for one another."A common misinformation tactic used by companies during a union campaign is to assert that a union is a third party that comes in and makes changes. This is not true. The workers are the union," the statement concluded."We are not a third party looking for companies to prey on. We are workers with a vested interest in making our company the best it can be."