GIVEAWAY: Win Buckets And Decay delay plugin by Bjango
Bjango has released Buckets And Decay ($49), a BBD and PT2399 delay, chorus, flanger, and vibrato plugin for macOS and Windows. We are giving away five free Buckets And Decay licenses to BPB readers. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below, and we will randomly pick five winners from the comments. We have already [...]
View post: GIVEAWAY: Win Buckets And Decay delay plugin by Bjango

Picking Fingers is a FREE plugin for changing bass pick and finger tone
Box of Rules has released Picking Fingers, a free bass guitar processing plugin for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Picking Fingers is designed to process a bass recording played one way so it sounds as if it were played the other way. In other words, you can push fingerstyle bass toward a picked sound, or move [...]
View post: Picking Fingers is a FREE plugin for changing bass pick and finger tone

Meet London’s hottest new outdoor dance venue, Magazine Open-AirBroadwick Live’s latest outdoor music series is set to kick off this weekend. Taking place over the final two weekends in August, Magazine Open-Air will transform London’s Greenwich Peninsula into a roofless dancefloor, allowing punters to dance to house, R&B and disco beside the River Thames, surrounded by London’s towering cityscape.
Kicking off on Friday 14 August, the Magazine Open-Air series will be taking place at riverside event space, Magazine London. The new series will be christened by Italian house unit MEDUZA and English DJ James Hype’s collaborative project, Our House. The following day, Saturday 15 August, will see electric B2B sets from Mancunian producer Josh Baker and groove-heavy London DJ Max Dean.

READ MORE: “On a personal creative level, it’s how we got to Random Access Memories”: Thomas Bangalter on Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy score

Magazine Open-Air isn’t exactly a ‘festival’. Instead, it asserts itself as a music series. Each day is curated in its own right, offering a unique, diverse dance experience for anyone keen to enjoy the open-air dancefloor. With that in mind, if house isn’t your thing, Sunday 16 August could be for you; the Sunday line-up is soul-heavy, with the Soulection Experience artist collective serving up DJs like Joe Kay, DJ Tunez and Wayne Wonder for a non-stop evening of R&B, hip-hop and soulful electro.
Next weekend, Friday 21 August will see a killer techno B2B with Amelia Lens and Sara Landry. Then, Saturday 22 August will be be a prime time to get your disco groove on, with German producer Purple Disco Machine swinging by Greenwich for some nu-disco gold. The finale on Sunday 23 August will see Magazine Open-Air winding down with some R&B and slow jams.

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While the B2B shows on Saturday 15 August and Friday 21 August will start at 4pm, all the other events will allow Londoners to party from earlier in the afternoon at 2:30pm. Everything will be rounding off by 10pm, meaning you’ll have a chance to catch the sun setting over London’s most iconic landmarks and still catch the last train home.
Speaking of, it genuinely will be a breeze to get yourself home in one piece. Thanks to being in Greenwich, Magazine Open-Air has all the same transport links as the The O2 Arena. The festival ground is just five minutes from North Greenwich station.
Tickets for each event are available now, with each event ranging in price. There are also VIP options available, if you’re keen to have access to an exclusive on-stage viewing spot, a VIP bar and fast-track entry.
Magazine Open-Air is just the latest addition to Broadwick Live’s portfolio of massive outdoor venues across the British capital. It joins the likes of Silverworks Island at East London’s Royal Docks, which recently hosted two giant back to back shows by Italian-American DJ Anyma.
For more information and to grab tickets, head to Broadwick Live.
The post Meet London’s hottest new outdoor dance venue, Magazine Open-Air appeared first on MusicTech.

Emergence Audio unveil Envoy Emergence Audio's latest instrument captures an array of percussive analogue synths, and includes a Flux Randomizer function that continuously applies timing, velocity, length and pitch changes to its sequencer steps. 

Why Daniel Caesar’s executive producers, Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans, are his “rational minds”When Canadian producers Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans first met Ashton Dumar Norwill Simmonds over a decade ago, they had no idea he would go on to become the Grammy-winning, platinum-selling singer, songwriter, and producer Daniel Caesar.
All three of them connected in the same Toronto-area high school within a small clique of fellow producers and artists. Today, Evans and Burnett manage Simmonds, serve as his executive producers, and run the independent label, Golden Child Recordings.

READ MORE: Wilkinson: “Buy one decent controller and synth, and learn them inside out…The producers I admire know their tools incredibly well.”

Needless to say, their relationship has become more complex, but because they’ve known each other since the first steps of their music careers, they see the human beings beneath the titles and the success. This perspective is key to Evans and Burnett’s management philosophy.
“Being a manager is very much taking care of the person first. If you don’t take care of him, there is no artist,” Burnett explains.
“I liken it to being a coach,” Evans adds. “He’s got to go out and perform. How do we make sure he’s in the best headspace to take on the world? It could be one performance. It could be embarking on a new album rollout. Whatever it is, we’re thinking about the entire process.”
Simmonds is currently in the midst of his world tour surrounding his latest album, Son of Spergy (2025). In a tour cycle, he’s pushing both his creative and physical muscles, performing as many as five nights in one week, but also constantly trying to refine and improve the show to be its best.
Matthew Burnett (left) and Jordan Evans (right). Image: Press
Burnett and Evans often discuss how Simmonds feels “led” to do something. As in, an idea comes up and he wants to follow it. That’s where his managers come in.
“He relies on us to be the rational minds,” Evans says. “We have to give room for the inspiration, but we also have to bring the ideas to reality. How practical is this? Is this something that we can seriously consider, or is it not possible? He depends on us to be that for him, so he has the freedom creatively.”
For their first tour after Simmonds released his debut album Freudian (2017), Evans and Burnett were indulging all of Simmonds’ grand ideas. When the show is at its best, more people want to come, which makes more fans stream the music. It’s a positive feedback loop… until they had a budget meeting when the tour wrapped.
“We went big, and we went wrong,” Burnett says with a laugh. “We’ve learned since then to have financial context of what you’re spending in real time, instead of just adding these things because they make the most sense creatively.”
With Simmonds at a much higher level of stardom, they now have a team to whom they can delegate these various tasks so they can focus on managing and producing. Once this tour comes to a close, it won’t be long before they’re all working on new music. In that situation, everything is still person-first. To take an album from ideas in Simmonds’ head to final masters is a long, meticulous process. Many artists get burned out before the end or hit creative roadblocks, but with Evans’ technical precision and Burnett’s musical background, Simmonds has comprehensive support in the studio.
Matthew Burnett. Image: Press
“If we’re building an album, that’s a year-and-a-half process. It requires thinking long-term, and also giving space to allow the story to develop,” Evans says. “We know it’s gonna change and adapt. We’ve gotten used to his flow. He needs the room to let the ideas unfold.”
After over a decade of working together, building their entire careers essentially from scratch, it’s only natural that Evans, Burnett, and Simmonds have developed deep personal and creative familiarity. However, Evans and Burnett’s production work goes far beyond Simmonds. Not as commonly now, but they’ve contributed to works from Drake, Childish Gambino, John Legend, Ellie Goulding, and dozens more. Most recently, Burnett worked with R&B sensation Giveon on his latest album, Beloved (2025).
While they are not nearly as familiar with any artist compared to Simmonds, the person-first approach still applies. They might not know every phase of an artist’s journey, but they can still treat the music as an expression of a person rather than a commodity to be traded and sold.
“If we haven’t known this artist for the last decade, we know the importance of knowing the artist as much as we possibly can in that short amount of time,” Burnett says. “If the song’s gonna stick, it has to be something that you feel connected to. The conversation’s different. Whether it’s a body of work we’re executive producing, or we’re coming in just for a single session, having the mindset to care as much as possible so that you both love what you guys are coming out with.”
And to all the newer artists out there who think that finding a team like Evans and Burnett is going to be a one-way ticket to becoming the next Daniel Caesar, both of them caution against running too quickly into professional relationships. When asked at what point an artist should seek a manager, their answer is simple:
“When there’s business to manage,” Evans says. “If you’re developing yourself creatively, you should be thinking about who you can build with creatively. That could be a producer or a visual artist, but you should be thinking about that first.”
Jordan Evans. Image: Press
Once the art is leading to business opportunities such as royalties, performances, and record deals, then a manager could be the right call. “A manager can’t come in and do magic and give you a career. So I think it’s better to focus on the things that you need to focus on, which is your music.”
And when the time is right for a manager, being a part of the music community, even if it’s just in high school, can spark the right relationships to grow.
The post Why Daniel Caesar’s executive producers, Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans, are his “rational minds” appeared first on MusicTech.

GroovEmu is a FREE REAPER arranger system for Windows
SlapAsSound has released GroovEmu Arranger, a free Windows system that turns REAPER into a live arranger-style workstation. This one comes from Marko Karja, a developer from Estonia who has sent BPB some unusual free plugin experiments over the years. His product pages usually have a strong sense of humor, but under the playful presentation here [...]
View post: GroovEmu is a FREE REAPER arranger system for Windows

Classical Reviews July 2026

A Song That Changed My Life: Frankie Muriel on Cal Tjader’s “Soul Sauce (Guachi Guaro)”The Artist: Frankie Muriel

The Storyteller: Frankie Muriel

The Song: Shimmery, nimble vibraphone lines and a montuno piano vamp open Cal Tjader’s 1960s classic “Soul Sauce (Guachi Guaro).” They lock into a rich intersection of classic son clave rhythms, while the glassy glissando runs of the vibraphone—the distinct, metal-bar-based pitched percussion instrument famously popularized by jazz pioneer Lionel Hampton—weave seamlessly throughout the entire track. A reinterpretation of jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo's "Guarachi Guaro," Tjader’s version mutates standard jazz progressions to create a distinct brand of cool, spacious, melodic froth.

This compelling fusion, built on a base of Latin grooves, became the signature sound that attracted a massive wave of new listeners, ultimately helping to bring this style of jazz to the forefront. That same vibraphone aesthetic, interwoven with a rolling mambo beat,  remains audible in the work of conga legend Poncho Sanchez as well as the dream-fused loops heard in modern heavyweights like Tyler, The Creator, who notably interpolated Tjader’s arrangement of "Invitation."

The Background: Possessing a keen awareness of music from a young age — taking note of the vibrant sounds of his father, Frank Muriel, an accomplished Latin jazz percussionist — Frankie Muriel the younger naturally developed a deep relationship with rhythm. Beyond the beat, he absorbed an innate knack for songwriting and showmanship, an inherited intuition that helped him to heed the call to entertain. This compulsion eventually steered him to front the funk-rock-flavored band KINGOFTHEHILL. With MTV heyday hits like “I Do U” becoming mainstream fixtures, Muriel learned the art of the larger-than-life performance.

While enjoying peak popularity, Muriel noted the unpredictable tides of musical tastes and industry trends. Observing these shifts, he recognized that longevity often required strategic pivoting as well as a strong dose of creative autonomy. Armed with this sharp survival instinct, he prepared to adapt, ensconcing himself in recording studios to learn the ins and outs of the production process while plotting a way to reinvent his career and re-emerge.This behind-the-scenes education proved to be both creatively liberating and highly profitable, ultimately paving the way for his return to lead the dance-rock juggernaut Dr. Zhivegas. The demanding live show marathon, filled with dynamic theatrics and spectacular staging, captured a massive following for nearly three decades. Yet, after years of relentless touring and sensing another sea change, Muriel course-corrected, moving away from the band formats of his past toward a solo endeavor. Beginning with the 2025 release I’m Still Standing, and continuing into his recent release, The Cabo Sessions, Muriel comes full circle, returning to the improvisational rhythms that first inspired him as a child.

The Story: Nights infused with syncopated percussive breaks and vibrant Latin melodies were a constant from an early age for Frankie Muriel. For him, music and memory became an inseparable tapestry of sights and sounds, with its selvage being Cal Tjader’s classic “Soul Sauce (Guachi Guaro).” Growing up under the immediate influence of his father, Frank Muriel, an accomplished percussionist, Frankie Muriel found himself immersed within the genre.

“It’s been a part of my life and part of my life’s soundtrack since I was a baby and I could hear music,” Muriel recalls. “It was a favorite of my father’s — and was also the kind of music that he played —  so it was always in our house, it was part of the soundtrack...”  Naturally, this constant exposure to such irresistible sounds also sparked an urge to dance. “I think as a child you feel that instinctive pulse and you start moving your body, and those are the great songs that [are always making you] move first,” he explains.

Beyond just the physical groove, the song carried a personal family connection, right down to "the rhythmic break to the song, how it starts off and the vocal break...” It was this specific section, and the distinct vocal call-out within the song, that Muriel connects with the most.

“It stayed with me because it sounded like my father’s voice. I always thought that it was his song because his band played it and it sounded like him singing the refrain,” Muriel shares. “Obviously, I was too young to understand what resonated with me, but it’s a core memory… Now it is in regular rotation in my home, so my daughter is growing up with this as part of her life’s soundtrack. To this day, I always hear him in it.”

These jazz arrangements inadvertently wired Muriel’s understanding of songwriting, teaching him how to decode a hook before setting foot onto the stage. “I think I learned about rhythm and melody from these types of songs way before I discovered rock and pop,” Muriel reflects. “These songs had a catchiness to them without lyrics, and the rhythm is just a hypnotic look into the groove, which I think is the hook that gets inside of you as you listen.”

The early childhood grooves stayed with him, shifting from a nostalgic background track into a major focus for his new music. While working on his latest material, those deeply embedded cadences resurfaced.“I grew up as a drummer and vibraphone player, which combines percussion and piano into one instrument, so that’s how I learned my melodies,” Muriel notes. The percussion and the congas have also taken on a more prominent role in his newest collection of songs.“As I was working on my new album, The Cabo Sessions, I realized the sounds from my youth had completely permeated into my writing. What started as a way to honor the memory of my father turned into understanding that these rhythms were in me the whole time. I’ve just let them out, and they’re creating textures and adding great energy into my new music.”

Photo Courtesy of Big Picture MediaThe post A Song That Changed My Life: Frankie Muriel on Cal Tjader’s “Soul Sauce (Guachi Guaro)” first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has now spent $100 million to fight the billionaire taxCalifornia's Prop 40 would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of the state's billionaires.

Judge stays CFTC’s case against US soldier over prediction market betsA New York judge granted a motion filed by US prosecutors in July to stay the CFTC’s civil case against Gannon Ken Van Dyke over making more than $400,000 on prediction markets.

Building a bicycle dropper seat postA recent addition to mountain bikes is the dropper seat post. This invention is in the vein of office swivel chairs, allowing the seat height to be adjusted with a simple handlebar mounted lever. They are rather fascinating inventions ranging in complexity from simple mechanical systems, to electronic monstrosities actuated by Bluetooth. Inspired by the panoply of possibilities, [kane components] set forth to create such a home-built dropper post. 
Inspired by woodworking bar clamps, [kane’s] design utilizing angled plates binding against a rail inside the dropper post. Two pairs of plates sitting at opposite angles resist opposite forces from either the rider sitting on the post, or the return spring. A simple cable actuated cam moves the plates to a nonbinding position when the lever is actuated, and springs return the plates to a binding rest-state. The return is handled by an air spring pressurized against a piston at the bottom of the shaft.

Though 3D printing could be used for a cursory test the mechanism, properly machined parts are needed to handle the loads running through a typical seat post. But instead of machining everything from scratch, [kane] reused the lower post and bushings from a broken post. To fit everything together, the lower post got thread milled so the entire mechanism can be threaded into the seat post as a replaceable cartridge. The upper telescopic section consists of aluminum tubing and a custom machined seat clam mechanism press-fit together.
As is the case with all engineering projects, a number of issues came forth once the dropper post made it onto a bike. Issues ranged from the cable pull causing the seat post to move slightly, to all manner of mechanical jamming. Filing down the ball end of the cable so it didn’t rub against the outer-housing of the seat post fixed that particular issue. The two-piece upper design also proved problematic with the press-fit having a bad tendency to come apart.
Despite these particular issues, did it end up working? No, not consistently. The binding mechanism does not consistently produce enough force to keep the dropper post from falling under a rider’s weight. Regardless, we really enjoyed following along with [kane] for the journey of creating such a mechanically complicated bicycle component!
To our surprise, this isn’t the first dropper post hack we have come across. So make sure to check out this bodge of a fix for a far more complex (and expensive) dropper next!

LILJEHOLMEN DSP TRUMSYNT-16TRUMSYNT-16 is a single-voice percussion synthesizer with an assignable step sequencer. The voice combines two oscillators, noise and click layers, LP/HP filtering, pre/post drive, envelopes, FM, hard sync, LFO and per-step modulation. The oscillator stage runs at 8x oversampling and is downsampled through a 31-tap FIR decimator. A 7-day trial and audio examples are available at liljeholmendsp.se. Read More

Get free intimate synth plucks for Splice INSTRUMENT
Download our free synth plucks preset for Splice INSTRUMENT—grab these presets during the drop window and they’re yours to keep forever.

UnitedMasters strengthens executive team with four appointments across marketing, brand, commerce and operationsThe new hires include former Warner Records executive Todd L. Perry II, alongside Goldie Harris, Luca Zanello and Jason Peerless.
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Sound Radix launch Radical1 Solo Sound Radix have just released a free monophonic additive software synth that’s based on the same engine as their Radical1 instrument.