Despite bitter rivalry, Kalshi, Polymarket CEOs back $35M predictions markets VC fundAs prediction markets explode, the new firm called 5(c) Capital, will back startups supporting the burgeoning category.

Bitcoin’s battle for $70K continues as data shows traders avoiding bullish positioningRising inflation concerns weigh on Bitcoin’s breakout as traders refuse to take on bullish positions, despite Monday’s 4% price bounce.

Signing Stories: BlackstreetDate Signed: November 2025Label: XOXO Entertainment Corp.Band Members: Chauncey “Black” Hannibal, Levi Little, Mark Middleton, Eric WilliamsType of Music: R&BManagement: XOXO Entertainment Corp, info@xoxoent.comBooking: Paquin EntertainmentLegal: Sander ShalinskyPublicity: Allie Gruensfelder - The Syndicate, allie@thesyn.comA&R: Adam H. Hurstfield, Jackie SonegraWeb: blackstreetofficial.com

It’s been three decades since their song “No Diggity” spent four weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, but the GRAMMY-winning R&B group has never stopped grinding. Besides independently recording a fresh album during the pandemic, the quartet tours to this day. They were performing an abbreviated, half-hour version of their set in Canada last September when one of their security guards said someone wanted to talk.

That person, multi-platinum producer Adam H. Hurstfield, is the CEO of XOXO Entertainment. The executive expressed how much he adored the show. “That’s nothing,” replied original member Chauncey “Black” Hannibal. “That’s just 30 percent of our capabilities.” They exchanged numbers, and Hannibal soon received a long text explaining what XOXO could do for them.

Being that the group has been around the block, they were unwilling to compromise. Instead of signing a traditional deal, the group became partners with the next-gen global entertainment company. The arrangement includes full-on management, plus complete creative control and ownership of their masters. “He gave us everything we wanted and more,” raves Hannibal. “This type of deal doesn’t get done in 2026.” The contract was signed right before Christmas.

The gentlemen knew they’d made the right choice when Hurstfield provided an analysis of their streaming data. He calculates Blackstreet has racked up 4.6 billion plays across all platforms, worth millions of dollars they’ve yet to see. Hurstfield promises to get them the money they deserve.

“They make us feel like we’re part of a family,” says Levi Little, who’s also been with the showmen since the early days. “We like that atmosphere.” The brevity of their contract reflects a mutual respect. The day they signed, they had a Zoom meeting to put the wheels in motion.

For Mark Middleton, who first joined in ‘96, the key to success is a matter of patience. “Hone your skills. Master yourself. Be disciplined. You can’t just jump at anything,” he imparts. “But keep God first. Have a strong relationship with God, because this is a faith walk.”

Expect new material from Blackstreet, including new versions of their greatest hits, to arrive this year. The post Signing Stories: Blackstreet first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Acoustic Drone Detection On the Cheap with ESP32We don’t usually speculate on the true identity of the hackers behind these projects, but when [TN666]’s accoustic drone-detector crossed our desk with the name “Batear”, we couldn’t help but wonder– is that you, Bruce? On the other hand, with a BOM consisting entirely of one ESP32-S3 and an ICS-43434 I2S microphone, this isn’t exactly going to require the Wayne fortune to pull off. Indeed, [TN666] estimates a project cost of only 15 USD, which really democratizes drone detection.
It’s not a tuba–  Imperial Japanese aircraft detector being demonstrated in 1932. Image Public Domain via rarehistoricalphotos.com
The key is what you might call ‘retrovation’– innovation by looking backwards. Most drone detection schema are looking to the ways we search for larger aircraft, and use RADAR. Before RADAR there were acoustic detectors, like the famous Japanese “war tubas” that went viral many years ago. RADAR modules aren’t cheap, but MEMS microphones are– and drones, especially quad-copters, aren’t exactly quiet. [TN666] thus made the choice to use acoustic detection in order to democratize drone detection.
Of course that’s not much good if the ESP32 is phoning home to some Azure or AWS server to get the acoustic data processed by some giant machine learning model.  That would be the easy thing to do with an ESP32, but if you’re under drone attack or surveillance it’s not likely you want to rely on the cloud. There are always privacy concerns with using other people’s hardware, too. [TN666] again reached backwards to a more traditional algorithmic approach– specifically Goertzel filters to detect the acoustic frequencies used by drones. For analyzing specific frequency buckets, the Goertzel algorithm is as light as they come– which means everything can run local on the ESP32. They call that “edge computing” these days, but we just call it common sense.
The downside is that, since we’re just listening at specific frequencies, environmental noise can be an issue. Calibration for a given environment is suggested, as is a foam sock on the microphone to avoid false positives due to wind noise. It occurs to us the sort physical amplifier used in those ‘war tubas’ would both shelter the microphone from wind, as well as increase range and directionality.
[TN] does intend to explore machine learning models for this hardware as well; he seems to think that an ESP32-NN or small TensorFlow Lite model might outdo the Goertzel algorithm. He might be onto something, but we’re cheering for Goertzel on that one, simply on the basis that it’s a more elegant solution, one we’ve dived into before. It even works on the ATtiny85, which isn’t something you can say about even the lightest TensorFlow model.
Thanks to [TN] for the tip. Playboy billionaire or not, you can send your projects into the tips line to see them some bat-time on this bat-channel.

Live Nation invests in Romania’s Emagic and Slovakia’s Vivien as it expands Central and Eastern European footprintLive Nation says it is 'strengthening the foundations' of live music in the region.
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Sound Props Guitar Series Direct SG is FREE for a limited time at Audio Plugin Deals
Audio Plugin Deals is offering the Guitar Series Direct SG by Sound Props for free for a limited time. This Kontakt-powered guitar library normally costs $115, so it is worth a look if you need a playable electric guitar instrument and already own the full version of Kontakt. Guitar Series Direct SG is based on [...]
View post: Sound Props Guitar Series Direct SG is FREE for a limited time at Audio Plugin Deals

Klang.io launch Transcription Studio Transcription Studio can run as a DAW plug-in or standalone application, and promises to make it easier than ever for professional and hobbyist musicians alike to document and communicate even the most complex of musical ideas.

Revealed Recordings Revealed Percussion Vol. 3Revealed Percussion Vol. 3 is a collection of 500 percussive one shots built to push rhythm further in modern productions. The pack is built from a range of real world recordings and shaped into clean, usable one shots with depth, detail, and distinct character. The palette draws from live percussion, field recordings, and drum machine sources. Whether you are sketching new patterns or adding detail and momentum to a track, Revealed Percussion Vol. 3 gives you a versatile suite of source sounds to inspire original, dynamic rhythm. Reveal Yourself. Revealed Percussion Vol. 3 - Details REV-PERC3 [500 samples]. 500 samples All samples symmetrically in phase Sample Format: 48kHz / 24-bit Stereo PCM .wav files Approx. 72.3MB compressed .zip download. Read More

The Triad multi-algorithm distortion plugin by Carbon Fiber is FREE for a limited time
The Triad is a three-way distortion plugin from developer Carbon Fiber, billed as “the triangle of destruction” due to its triangular X/Y pad at its core. It is now free for a limited time! It’s a multi-algorithm distortion and saturation processor offering a tactile way to blend various types of distortion, and it’s free until April [...]
View post: The Triad multi-algorithm distortion plugin by Carbon Fiber is FREE for a limited time

“The Entire Sampletraxx Universe, Unlocked”: Get 56 sound libraries valued at £2,000 for just £89 with this huge bundle deal Plugin Boutique is offering a huge bundle deal on the complete Sampletraxx catalogue, including 56 sound libraries valued at nearly £2,000 – all for £89.
For the first time ever and running until 29 March, you can own the complete Sampletraxx collection, described as “the legendary toolkit used by top composers on blockbuster films, AAA games, and major trailers”.
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The collection contains thousands of cinematic sound effects for trailer music, scoring, and immersive game audio. The Sampletraxx brand is built on a philosophy of creating “state of the art sound design”, and its tools have been used by Charlie Clouser, the composer for the SAW film franchise and a former member of Nine Inch Nails, and Mark Korven, composer for critically acclaimed films like The Witch and The Lighthouse.

READ MORE: Roland says its new AI melody generator, Melody Flip, puts “human intent” at the centre of the process

The bundle includes several tools for foundational atmospheres and drones such as Shadow Drones, the “cornerstone” of this collection, offering over 400 cinematic drone sounds, and Sanctuary, a library designed to create the perfect headspace for music intros. This one offers gentle reverberations, distant echoes, and textures derived from e-bowed instruments and meticulously processed organic sources like ceramic and glass.
There are also tools for impact and transitions ideal for trailers, tortured instruments like a broken piano and chilling string instruments for horror music, and a number of sound design“secret weapons” for vocals, tension building, and more.

This bundle deal arrives just as Plugin Boutique is offering a promotion on Music For Film, with tools for cinematic scoring, orchestral sound design and epic soundtracks all available with big discounts.
You can find out more and view the full list of all sound libraries included in the Sampletraxx bundle via Plugin Boutique.
The post “The Entire Sampletraxx Universe, Unlocked”: Get 56 sound libraries valued at £2,000 for just £89 with this huge bundle deal  appeared first on MusicTech.

Get the iconic Minimoog in plugin form for $49 – saving you $100Right now until the end of March, you can save $100 on Universal Audio’s Moog-endorsed plugin emulation of the Minimoog Model D synthesiser.
Universal Audio first launched this emulation along with its Luna platform in 2020, as the Minimoog formed part of its built-in instrument offerings. It was then released for individual purchase in 2022.
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The Moog Minimoog Model D is one of the most famous analogue synths. The original hardware version was launched in 1970, and condensed the sound of Moog’s modular systems into a portable instrument. It went on to be used by huge artists like Herbie Hancock, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, and many others.

READ MORE: Plugin Boutique’s Music For Film sale has all the instruments you need for cinematic scoring and epic soundtracks – at huge discounts

UAD’s recreation includes all the necessary features that gave the original so much character, including impedance matching, module-to-module coupling, and even its “feedback” effect (routing its output to its input to get different amounts of distortion).
This plugin version also precisely captures the legendary Moog oscillators, ladder filters, extreme resonance, pitch tracking/stability anomalies, and more. You can find out more in the videos below:

If you prefer hardware synths, then you can also get Moog’s 2022 reissue of the Minimoog Model D on sale at Guitar Center, with over $1,000 off its original price right now.
This version features modern enhancements including a dedicated LFO, MIDI and CV connectivity, custom reissue transistors, and a premium Fatar keybed with velocity and aftertouch. It retains the classic three-voltage-controlled oscillator design at the core of this synth to deliver the rich textures it is best known for.
In 2022 feature with MusicTech on the legacy of the Minimoog Model D, artists Lisa Bella Donna, Gareth Jones, Ashibah and Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory shared their thoughts on its impact and significance in synth history. Will Gregory said, “You can’t live on one synthesiser alone, but I tell you what: you can go a long way with a Model D.”
Get the Universal Audio Minimoog plugin for $49 now at Sweetwater.
The post Get the iconic Minimoog in plugin form for $49 – saving you $100 appeared first on MusicTech.

BOOM Library release Seasons of Earth: European Autumn The latest release from BOOM Library comes packed with production-ready exterior ambiences that capture the distinct acoustic character of autumn. 

The best free synth plugins you can download right nowThe best synth plugin on the market isn’t necessarily the most expensive one. You’ve probably heard that Serum, Sylenth and Pigments are the synth plugins you absolutely need to make music. But there’s a ton of free synth plugins that can hold their own against any of them.

READ MORE: The best budget synthesizers to buy right now

We’ve used and tested a bunch of free virtual instruments, and thought about how they might fit into different music production workflows. Here are some wavetable, FM, virtual analogue, and modular synth plugins that are completely free and that might become your new favourite plugin.
Best Overall: Vital
Vital. Image: Press
Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synth that many consider to be a worthy alternative to Xfer’s Serum, with its straightforward drag-and-drop modulation interface and a unique text-to-wavetable feature. Vital’s GUI is extremely visually responsive with animated controls that show you where the filters, envelopes, and LFOs are interacting with the sound.
Vital offers amazing potential for creating and shaping unique wavetables with spectral warping processes that let you alter the harmonics rhythmically in real-time. Although there are four different versions of Vital, including a subscription and two paid options, each gives you access to the same high-quality sound design platform with different levels of additional content.
With its three oscillators and a sample-based sound generator, you have a wide sonic palette for traditional virtual analogue or cutting-edge digital sounds. When you combine Vital’s spectral warping and stereo modulation capabilities, you can create animated and evolving soundscapes or rhythmic patterns.
Download Vital at vital.audio
Best FM Synth: Digital Suburban Dexed

Dexed is a completely free, open-source FM synth available across macOS, Windows, and Linux which is a closely-modeled recreation of the famous Yamaha DX7. With its 6-operator FM engine, you can choose between three different emulation modes that mimic the sound of the hardware from different eras. These include the clean 24-bit Modern mode, the Mark I mode (close to the original DX7), and the OPL Series mode, which offers 8-bit chip emulation.
Naturally, you get all the classic DX7 patches like E.PIANO, TUB BELLS, and BASS 1 that were used on those legendary 1980s records from Whitney Houston, A-Ha, and Bon Jovi. Besides being a VST, VST3, AU, and LV2 format plugin, Dexed is also a MIDI librarian and patch manager for the DX7 and TX7 hardware, and because these synths are notoriously tricky to program, it becomes an essential software extension for owners of these classic FM synths.
Besides the ability to send and receive SysEx messages, Dexed also supports MPE for modern controllers like the Osmose and offers micro-tuning capabilities. Although it’s based on a vintage FM engine, Dexed is still a relevant sound creation platform, offering 144 parameters that are all accessible from the interface and can be automated in your DAW.
Dexed isn’t exactly beginner-friendly, since it’s rather complex, but it is light on the CPU, so you can run it on older computers without any issues. Arguably, the most exciting aspect is the world of free patches you get access to due to the cult status of the DX7.
Download Dexed at kvraudio.com
Best for bass music: Callybeat Hum808X

If you’re looking to create genres like Bass Music, Trap, and Drill, Callybeat Hum808X is a hybrid synth that combines additive and FM synthesis with three oscillators providing five waveform types. Although it was originally designed for the creation of 808-style kicks and sub-basses, Hum808X has evolved, offering a wider scope of sounds.
Within its FM synthesis engine, Hum808X has a sampler that functions as a modulator for controlling the frequency of the oscillators. With this hybrid approach to synthesis, you can introduce unique harmonics and realistic textures that aren’t possible using sine waves exclusively. Hum808X also includes a collection of 90 samples specially chosen for this purpose.
This allows you to add metallic timbres and percussive textures to bass sounds, helping them translate easily on small speaker systems like laptops, smartphones, and AirPods. For building sounds, there are 16 filter types, and one ADSR envelope for each oscillator and a global envelope to shape the entire sound.
You can also spread sounds with up to 16 unison voices and add expression with the glide control to match the rhythmic signature of your bassline. Meanwhile, to add the final touch, Hum808X is also equipped with a range of built-in effects, including distortion, compression, EQ, limiting, delay, and reverb.
Hum808X is an intuitive sound creation tool for modern music genres and a worthy alternative to popular plugins like SubLab that allows even beginners to get inspiring results quickly. The only drawback is that it’s not available for macOS, so Mac users will need an additional plugin host like PlugInGuru Unify to port it across.
Download Hum808X at callybeat.com
Best for Sound Design: Surge XT

Surge XT is a bi-timbral hybrid synth that provides extensive sound design tools with traditional virtual-analogue subtractive, wavetable, and FM synthesis processes. Until 2018, when it became open-sourced, Surge XT was a commercially available software synth from Vember Audio, but since then, it has been expanded considerably by volunteers within the active global user community.
Each of the two independent layers or “scenes” gives you access to three oscillators with a range of 12 selectable sound generation methods, including algorithms such as Classic and Modern virtual analogue modes, Wavetable, 2- or 3-modulator FM modes, String modeling, and a Twist mode based on the Mutable Instruments Plaits macro oscillator.
There are also two filter sections per scene with eight configurations and a range of algorithms, including Lowpass, Legacy Ladder Lowpass, Vintage Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, Notch, Allpass, Comb, and Sample & Hold, as well as additional open-source options like Jatin Chowdhury’s Cutoff Warp, Resonance Warp and Tri-Pole filters, the K35 and Diode Ladder filters from Odin 2 and the 12 and 24 dB/oct multimode filters from OB-Xd.
Surge XT also has extensive modulation capabilities, with 12 LFOs per scene, including six LFOs per voice and six global LFOs that work on a scene-wide level. On each LFO, you have 6-stage envelopes (DAHDSR) and different modes including seven morphable LFO shapes, a step-sequencer mode, a multi-segment envelope generator (MSEG) mode, Lua scripting-based customizable formula modulator.
With nearly 3000 presets and over 700 wavetables, Surge XT offers a wide sonic palette, and although perhaps too technical for beginners, it offers pro features such as full MPE support, Scala support for microtuning, and Open Sound Control (OSC) support. The active Surge XT community adds plenty of value, making investing in the journey of this open-source synth even more worthwhile.
Download Surge XT at surge-synthesizer.github.io
Best Modular: DISTRHO Cardinal
Cardinal is an open-source plugin that provides an environment for virtual Eurorack modules. Although it’s based on the same engine as the popular VCV Rack plugin, it doesn’t allow you to browse an online library to download new modules. Instead, Cardinal has over 1,300 modules that you can use to design your own virtual synth rigs and patches.
Besides running as a standalone application, Cardinal can be used as a virtual instrument or effects plugin in AU, CLAP, LV2, VST2, and VST3 formats for Windows, macOS, Linux, and even Raspberry Pi. Within Cardinal’s library of virtual modules, you’’l find versions of popular hardware modules from Mutable Instruments and Befaco, as well as some derived from the Surge XT engine.
One of the advantages of using Cardinal is that the audio engine is single-threaded and locks to the audio thread of your DAW host to eliminate latency and jitter. This increases the all-round stability and accuracy of the instrument, especially when running multiple instances alongside other synth plugins in your DAW.
The main VST3/LV2/CLAP version of Cardinal provides 8 channels of audio I/O and 10 channels of CV I/O that register as “audio” pins within the routing matrix of your DAW. This means you can send CV signals from Cardinal’s Host CV Module to other modular software environments like Bitwig Studio’s Grid or even hardware via the DC-coupled outputs of your audio interface.
Cardinal’s Host Parameters Module also allows you to automate up to 24 parameters from your DAW, and this automation data can be converted into CV signals for precise parameter control. Despite Cardinal’s advantages, many users still prefer VCV Rack for its extensive online library of modules. However, the free version of VCV Rack doesn’t include plugin compatibility, so you’ll have to record into your DAW via loopback.
Download Cardinal at cardinal.kx.studio
Best For Beginners: u-he Tyrell N6 Beta
u-he Tyrell N6
If you’re new to the idea of using synth plugins to generate sounds and want something that’s perhaps a little tastier than your stock DAW synths, Tyrell N6 Beta is a worthwhile option. Originally, the concept for this JUNO-60-inspired synth came from a collaboration between Urs Heckmann and Amazona.de, who ultimately opted for a software plugin rather than a hardware design.
The Tyrell N6 uses a basic analogue subtractive architecture with two oscillators with variable waveshape and modulation, and a sound source mixer that allows you to balance between the two main oscillators, the sub oscillator, the noise oscillator, the ring modulation, and feedback. Also, the sound engine and filter section are derived from Diva, with two LFOs, two envelopes, and a simple mod matrix.
With three different JUNO-style chorus modes and the rather convincing analogue drift feature, you can create some really authentic analogue synth leads, pads, and basslines. Overall, Tyrell N6 is a balanced instrument with a well-designed interface that lets you create sounds from scratch or access a range of free preset libraries online.
Download Tyrell N6 at u-he.com.
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MusicTech reviews hundreds of new products every year, from powerful synthesizers, DAWs and pro plugins through to everyday headphones and portable speakers. Our expert reviewers are producers, engineers and enthusiasts with hundreds of years of collective experience, with a keen ear to the ground on new trends and technologies.
Every guide on MusicTech is created by a producer, musician and tech enthusiast just like you. We understand what you’re looking for when searching for a new free synth plugin, and we want to ensure you purchase genuinely useful products for your craft. So you can guarantee that every product MusicTech recommends to you is a product we’d be happy to have in our studios.
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The post The best free synth plugins you can download right now appeared first on MusicTech.

IDing Counterfeit Drugs Might Be Easier Than You ThinkOdds are, you’ve taken pills before; it’s a statistical certainty that some of you reading this took several this morning. Whenever you do, you’re at the mercy of the manufacturer: you’re trusting that they’ve put in the specific active ingredients in the dosage listed on the package. Alas, given the world we live in, that doesn’t always happen. Double-checking actual concentrations requires expensive lab equipment like gas chromatography. It turns out checking for counterfeit pills is easier than you’d think, thanks to a technique called Disintegration Fingerprinting.

The raw voltage signal from the sensor is stored as a “disintegration fingerprint” of particles detected per minute.
It’s delightfully simple: all you need is a clear plastic cup, a stir plate, and a handful of electronic components — namely, a microcontroller, a servo, and an IR line-following sensor. You’ve probably played with just such a sensor: the cheap ones that are a matched pair of LED and photodetector. It works like this: the plastic cup, filled with water, sits upon the stir plate. To start the device, you turn on the stir plate and actuate the servo to drop the pill in the water. The microcontroller then begins recording the signal from the photo-diode. As the pill breaks up and/or dissolves in the water, the swirling bits are going to reflect light from the IR LED. That reflectance signal over time is the Disintegration Fingerprint (DF), and it’s surprisingly effective at catching fakes according to the authors of the paper linked above. Out of 32 different drug products, the technique worked on 90% of them, and was even able to distinguish between generic and brand-name versions of the same drug.
Of course, you do need a known-good sample to generate a trustworthy fingerprint, and there’s that pesky 10% of products the technique doesn’t work on, but this seems like a great way to add some last-mile QA/QC to the drug distribution chain, particularly in low and middle-income countries where counterfeit drugs are a big problem.
We’ve featured pill-identifiers before, but machine vision is going to be much more easily fooled by counterfeits than this method. If your problem isn’t worrying that your pills are fake, but forgetting to take them, we’ve had projects to help with that, too.
Thanks to [Zorch] for the tip!

The SEC drops its four-year-old investigation into EV startup Faraday FutureAfter four years, and multiple subpoenas and depositions, the beleaguered startup has dodged yet another bullet.