39C3: Recreating SandstormSome synthesizer sounds are just catchy, but some of them are genre-defining. We think you could make that case for the Roland JP-8000 patch “Sandstorm”, which you’ve heard if you listened to any trance from the 90’s, but especially the song that was named after it.
“Sandstorm” is powered by the Roland Supersaw, and synth nerds have argued for a decade about how it’s made. The JP-8000 is a digital synthesizer, though, so it’s just code, run through custom DSP chips. If you could reverse engineer these chips, make a virtual machine, and send them the right program, you could get the sound 100% right. Think MAME but for synthesizers.
That brings us to [giulioz]’s talk at the 39th Chaos Communication Congress, where he dives deep into the custom DSP chip at the heart of the JP-8000. He and his crew had approached older digital synths by decapping and mapping out the logic, as you often do in video game emulation. Here, getting the connections right turned out to be simply too daunting, so he found a simpler device that had a test mode that, combined with knowledge of the chip architecture, helped him to figure out the undocumented DSP chip’s instruction set.
After essentially recreating the datasheet from first principles for a custom chip, [guiloz] and team could finally answer the burning question: “how does the Supersaw work”?  The horrifying answer, after all this effort, is that it’s exactly what you’d expect — seven sawtooth waves, slightly detuned, and layered over each other. Just what it sounds like.
The real end result is an emulation that’s every bit (tee-hee!) as good as the original, because it’s been checked out on a logic analyzer. But the real fun is the voyage. Go give the talk a watch.

How to make your startup stand out in a crowded market, according to investorsInvestors on what they really want to hear in a founder's pitch.

What Is Tickets For Good?In a live-music industry constantly battling rising ticket costs, empty seats, and fan disengagement, Tickets For Good is shifting the narrative. Here's an introduction to their work.
The post What Is Tickets For Good? appeared first on Hypebot.

EP vs. LP: What’s the difference (and do they still matter)?
Learn about the difference between an EP and an LP, dive into their history, and explore why these mediums still matter in the digital era.

These are my 15 favorite FREE music production plugins from 2025
2025 was probably the best year ever for free VST plugins. And that’s not an exaggeration. We covered well over 200 free plugins on BPB this year, ranging from simple utilities to genuinely mind-blowing tools that rival (and sometimes outperform) commercial software. Narrowing that list down wasn’t easy, but after months of testing, mixing, and [...]
View post: These are my 15 favorite FREE music production plugins from 2025

What was it like for Jewish Rapper to perform on Hanukkah in 2025? [Kosha Dillz]Indie rapper and filmmaker Kosha Dillz writes about how much has changed since October 7th and more recent events, and the enduring power of music during the toughest times.
The post What was it like for Jewish Rapper to perform on Hanukkah in 2025? [Kosha Dillz] appeared first on Hypebot.

beyerdynamic MMX 150 & 230 reach UK & Europe The MMX 150 Wireless and MMX 230 Wireless cater to both casual and serious gamers, are also said to be well suited to general listening. 

Police charge driver who allegedly killed a pedestrian while livestreaming on TikTokLocal police said they have charged an Illinois driver who struck and killed a pedestrian while she was livestreaming on TikTok.

Photographing Cosmic Rays with a Consumer CameraThe reason photographic darkrooms are needed is because almost any amount of light can ruin the film or the photographic paper before they are fixed. Until then these things are generally kept in sealed, light-proof containers until they are ready to be developed. But there are a few things that can ruin film even then, most notably because some types of film are sensitive to ionizing radiation as well as light. This was famously how [Henri Becquerel] discovered that uranium is radioactive, but the same effect can be used to take pictures of cosmic rays.
In [Becquerel]’s case, a plate of photographic material was essentially contaminated from uranium by accident, even though the plate was in a completely dark area otherwise. Cosmic rays are similar to this type of radiation in that they are also ionizing and will penetrate various materials even in places we might otherwise think of as dark. For this artistic and scientific experiment, [Gabriel] set up a medium-format digital camera in a completely dark room and set it to take a 41-minute exposure. The results are fairly impressive and are similar to [Becquerel]’s experiment except that [Gabriel] expected to see something whereas the elder scientist was more surprised.
Like cosmic rays or radiation from uranium, there is a lot flying around that is invisible to the human eye but that can be seen with the right equipment and some effort. Although [Gabriel] is using a camera with a fairly large sensor that we might not all have access to, in theory this could work with more off-the-shelf digital photography equipment or even film cameras. A while ago we even saw a build that used UV to see other invisible phenomena like electrical arcing.

DWP16 NexoraGlitch Grid with 10 FX Tracks Nexora is built around a powerful, performance-oriented glitch grid where each row acts as an independent FX track. With up to 10 parallel tracks, you can sculpt complex rhythmic textures and evolving sound transformations in real time. Each track can host up to 4 effects, selected from a deep arsenal of 20 creative FX, including step filter, distortion, chorus, phaser, flanger, filter, delay, reverb, repeat, reverse, pitch drop, gate, pan, shuffle, bitcrusher, ringmod, fracture, stretcher, rotary speaker, and comb filtering. Draw patterns on the grid and let Nexora slice, glitch, modulate, and reshape your audio with tight BPM-sync. Snapshots Per Pattern for Deep Control Every effect on every track supports up to 8 snapshots, so each pattern on the grid can recall its own unique parameter set. Design evolving textures by assigning different snapshots across the grid, switching between subtle movement and extreme glitch transformations without losing control. A dedicated snapshot edit mode lets you fine-tune all FX parameters quickly and musically. Flexible Play Modes and Step Engine Nexora's grid supports up to 8 divisions and 8 beats, giving you a total of 64 steps spanning two bars. The engine offers multiple playback modes: Parallel, Sequential, Random Step, Random Track, Selected Track, and Mixdown. In addition, Nexora allows manual snapshot switching on the master channel, letting you instantly switch between master snapshots during playback. This makes it easy to perform dramatic transitions, build drops, and reshape the entire FX structure in real time. Intelligent Randomization Engine Nexora features a powerful random system on both global and per-track levels. Use global random to fill the grid with patterns, snapshots, effects and play modes, with precise control over what is allowed to change and what stays locked. Define which effect types can be used and how much of the grid should be filled. Each track also has its own random buttons for patterns and FX (including optional snapshot randomization), making it easy to discover new ideas in seconds. Built-in Recorder with Threshold Mode Capture the output of Nexora directly with the integrated recorder. Use manual mode for instant recording or enable auto mode with threshold so recording starts only when your signal is loud enough. When you are done, drag the waveform straight to your DAW or save it as an audio file for later use. It's an ideal workflow for printing complex glitch passages and resampling them into your tracks. Read More

GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Gospel, Best Contemporary Christian Music AlbumsThe 2025 GRAMMY nominations are here and we're going to help you to untangle it all right up until the big event, continuing with the Best Gospel Album and Best Contemporary Christian Music Album categories.

Take a listen to the nominated albums below--who do you think will win?

See the full list of nominees in every category here.

Best Gospel Album

Sunny DaysYolanda Adams

TashaTasha Cobbs Leonard

Live Breathe FightTamela Mann

Only On The Road LiveTye Tribbett

Heart Of MineDarrel Walls, PJ Morton

Best Contemporary Christian Music Album

CHILD OF GOD IIForrest Frank

Coritos Vol. 1Israel & New Breed

King Of HeartsBrandon Lake

ReconstructionLecrae

Let The Church SingTauren Wells

Yolanda Adams photo by Dennis LeupholdThe post GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Gospel, Best Contemporary Christian Music Albums first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Soundgas: John Paul Jones Studio Auction Soundgas’ latest gear auction sees the company offer up a selection of gear sourced from the studio of legendary British musician John Paul Jones.

Fed's 'skinny' accounts end Operation Chokepoint 2.0 — Senator LummisGiving crypto companies and fintech startups access to accounts at the Federal Reserve is a hedge against debanking by commercial banks.

Building Beautiful LED Lanterns With Black LED Acrylic[Geeksmithing] and [When Geeks Craft] recently came together for a glowing collaboration. They wanted to build ever more attractive lanterns for a local parade event. They recently discovered a fantastic material that can really improve the look of whatever project you might be building with LEDs.
The material is commonly referred to as “Black LED Acrylic” or similar. In this case, it was sourced from TAP Plastics, though you can source similar acrylic from other vendors, too. From first glance, it looks like any other piece of black acrylic plastic. However, shine an LED through it, and it will be beautifully diffused and smoothed out to wonderful visual effect. A simple test of a 3×3 array of LEDs behind a 3D-printed grid shows how good this can look. It almost entirely eliminates hot spots, and the result looks like a display built out of juicy glowing cubes. The duo used this material to produce giant pixel art lanterns for their local parade. We only get a glimpse at the final build, but it appears giant Pacman and Blinky totems are on the way.
If you’ve been struggling to find a good way to diffuse the light from LEDs, you might want to give this stuff a try. Alternatively, you might explore some other methods we’ve looked at before, and don’t discount ping pong balls, either.

FaZe Clan’s future is uncertain after influencers departSix influencers recently announced that they are leaving esports group FaZe Clan following unsuccessful contract negotiations with new management.