Save over £180 on this Baby Audio and Excite Audio bundle featuring “four of the hottest effects plugins on the market”Plugin Boutique is offering an exclusive deal on an effects bundle from Baby Audio and Excite Audio, featuring four plugins for less than £50.
You can save over £180 by purchasing the bundle, which features Excite Audio’s Motion: Harmonic and Lifeline Mod, plus Baby Audio’s Crystalline and Super VHS. The offer runs until 6 July.

READ MORE: Love ambient music? Sonicware’s LIVEN Evoke might be the perfect polyphonic synth

Plugin Boutique describes these effects plugins as “four of the hottest” on the market right now, so let’s dive a little further into each one.
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Excite Audio Motion: Harmonic
This distortion plugin can create “subtle warming and shaping” all the way to “intense modulated signal destruction”, with parameters for distortion, bitcrushing, and filtering. With a hexagonal control area and a reactive 3D object at the centre point of the UI, it offers six macro sliders that can be assigned to control any of its effect parameters. These sliders then react to a ‘magnetic’ cursor whose path can be recorded using mouse movements or drawn graphically.

Excite Audio Lifeline Mod
The Lifeline Mod is a pitch warping tool that revives the “magic of pitch variations” as heard across tape, vinyl and cassettes. The plugin hosts three core modes inspired by each of these physical mediums.
Tape mode introduces subtle pitch modulation where the speed and depth are compensated, and Vinyl mode simulates the warping of a record by “lending a moderate pitch modulation with some speed and depth compensation”. The Cassette mode achieves a more extreme pitch modulation effect as heard on compact-style tapes, left untamed by keeping speed and depth independent.

Baby Audio Crystalline
The Crystalline reverb plugin follows the traditions of classic algorithmic reverbs, but adds “new features and higher fidelity thanks to modern computer power”. You can set the room size from tiny to large, and there is a detached “length” control for any size/length combination you desire. Find out more below:

Baby Audio Super VHS
Inspired by the 1980s, this plugin captures the spirit of a worn out VHS tape. It utilises six effects that come together in a “versatile” signal chain to add lo-fi character and charm to any clean sound. Each effect has a single control, but multiple parameters to experiment with under the hood.

The Baby Audio x Excite Audio bundle is available now for £49. To find out more or shop the bundle, head over to Plugin Boutique.
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Tetrad is a soft synth “like no other”, apparentlyPhysical Audio has just unleashed a soft synth “like no other”. Developed alongside composer and transmedia artist Gadi Sassoon, the Tetrad combines physical modelling and granular synthesis into one release for Mac and Windows.
The soft synth is inspired by Gadi’s sculpture-based synth installation and accompanying soundtrack. The Modes of Vibration album utilises the Tetrad to compliment the “slashed plates and sound generators of the experimental setup”, but has since channelled the full experimental force of the installation into one central piece of software.

READ MORE: The Lost Art of the Ticket Stub — and its Futuristic Revival

“It started as an experiment in tangible synthesis and embodied algorithms with the team of Nemus Project, a quadraphonic ‘sculpture-based synth’ installation and performance based on four slashed plates with transducers,” Sassoon explains.
“In the real world each performance, installation and studio production provides a spatial experience that you just don’t get in a DAW, so we tried to imagine how that experience could inspire new tricks in the box.”

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The ‘Tetra’ name reflects its quadrophonic nature, with four oscillators and a quad bus signal path feeding 4 metal plates. The intention is a “pseudo-sequencer” effect, with the Quad Granulator splitting the signal into grains that can be replayed in a slew of different ways; users can adjust the grains’ waveshape, size, pitch and adjust the granulator’s feedback. There’s also phase displacement abilities per voice.
While four is the Tetra’s magic number, the four oscillator modes boast five different modes. Users can generate voices through basic, chords and modal chords, free and flex modes. There’s also ADSR envelope, FM Frequency and FM Depth for all oscillator types.
Voices can also be tuned in a variety of ways, ranging from basic intervals to diatonic inversions. There is also a Sidechain option, allowing you to bypass the oscillator. The voices can be controlled together to create new textures, or can be tweaked individually.

There’s also eight LFOs and three envelope-following sources, plus MIDI and MPE parameter sources. Three filters allow you to to curtail and sculpt effects from audio-rate modulation distortion and extreme granulation artefacts.
A highly customisable virtual sound stage also allows you the freedom to place plate resonators anywhere you please, allowing you to feed plates through a preamp with overdrive. You can customise the level of drive and decay per plate.
The Tetra comes with over 100 presets to get started immediately. Then, you can jump into the Comprehensive Modulation Matrix to truly let loose. “To bring it all to life, we programmed a powerful modulation matrix,” Sassoon says. “The result is a uniquely versatile computer music tool that can be used both as a generator and processor. There is much more to it, and I look forward to sharing details on each component in the coming weeks. It was real labour of love..”
Tetrad is available now at an introductory price of $59, which will soon jump up to $99.

The post Tetrad is a soft synth “like no other”, apparently appeared first on MusicTech.

Cakewalk Sonar Returns as a Free DAW for Windows
Cakewalk has re-released Sonar as a free DAW for Windows users. This is the long-awaited (re)birth of Cakewalk’s old flagship digital audio workstation, now with a new price tag, interface, and some new rules. If you’ve been around the free DAW scene, you’ll remember Cakewalk by BandLab as one of the top choices, rivaling Waveform [...]
View post: Cakewalk Sonar Returns as a Free DAW for Windows

After selling for $55M, a 24-hour YouTube music stream is first on the agenda for deadmau5’s mau5trap labelA new 24/7 live music stream has been launched by the mau5trap label, playing a constant mix of electronic music via the official deadmau5 YouTube channel.
The stream is aptly named as ‘Airplane Mode’, and provides background music for relaxing or working. All music has been selected by the mau5trap team – deadmau5’ own independent music label – with 100 tracks having been curated, which are also available in a Spotify playlist for streaming.

READ MORE: Is Spotify’s HiFi lossless streaming actually coming? Leaked code says yes

Airplane Mode is described by mau5trap as a “sonic journey through the sounds of progressive house, melodic techno, and electronic music for deep focus”. A description beneath the video reads, “Whether you’re tuning in to tune out, or looking for the perfect background music to elevate your space, this 24/7 radio stream is your passport to deep vibes and low-altitude cruising. No turbulence, just pure vibes.”
You can check it out below:

Deadmau5 sold his catalogue to Create Music Group for $55 million back in March, marking the start of a new working partnership. The deal also included the rights to the mau5trap Records catalogue, which is home to over 4,000 songs.
It was revealed that the partnership would focus on the expansion of the mau5trap legacy, with plans put in motion for CMG and deadmau5 (Joel Zimmerman) to work together on remastering and re-releasing key deadmau5 records, as well as launching new content across a range of platforms – hence the introduction of Airplane Mode.
In a more recent interview with Billboard Canada, Zimmerman reflected on the sale and affirmed that nothing would be changing in regards to how he works and puts out music: “I mean, I’m sure they’ll make all their money back and more, but for me it was just time to reel everything back in, throw some money back into production for the next couple of years, and then start over. So, nothing changes. I’m still writing new music and doing everything I do,” he said.
Find out more about mau5trap, or check out where you can catch deadmau5 live.
The post After selling for $55M, a 24-hour YouTube music stream is first on the agenda for deadmau5’s mau5trap label appeared first on MusicTech.

Splash Sound releases FREE Kalimba VST Plugin and Kontakt Library
Splash Sound has released Kalimba, a free virtual instrument for macOS and Windows. It’s the second addition to Splash Sound’s Play Collection of freeware, lightweight instruments for hassle-free music production. We featured the first instrument in the series, the Djembe, back in 2024. We liked the simple interface and surprisingly authentic sound (considering the lightweight [...]
View post: Splash Sound releases FREE Kalimba VST Plugin and Kontakt Library

OpenAI pulls promotional materials around Jony Ive dealOpenAI appears to have pulled a much-discussed video promoting the friendship between CEO Sam Altman and legendary Apple designer Jony Ive (plus, incidentally, OpenAI’s $6.5 billion deal to acquire Ive and Altman’s device startup io) from its website and YouTube page.

Pr.Germux Speaker DiarizationSpeaker Diarization Automatically split mixed-speaker audio into separate tracks, right inside your DAW Transform any mono or stereo recording into isolated speaker stems—ideal for podcasts, interviews, post-production, and research. With a single plug-in instance, Speaker Diarization uses a lightweight ONNX model to detect speaker boundaries and export per-voice files, saving you hours of manual editing. Key Features Real-Time Speaker Segmentation. Runs entirely in your DAW — no round-trip to external apps. Choose number of speakers from 1 to 10 and browse a WAV recording file, wait a little bit, and your speakers will be automatically splitted and exported: Lightweight ONNX Core. Ships with a statically-linked ONNX Runtime, so there's nothing extra to install—just drop the .vst3 into your plugin folder: Cross-Platform Compatibility. VST3 on Windows (x64 & x86), macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon). Fully tested in Adobe Audition, REAPER, Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Cubase, Audacity, and more. Zero Dependencies, Zero Crashes. Built with static linking to guarantee rock-solid performance and eliminate "missing DLL" nightmares. How It Works 1) Install (copy) your Speaker Diarizer folder to the system VST3 folder: Windows (64-bit): C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\ macOS: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ Or if you specifically pinpoint you DAW application to the plug-in root folder. 2) Open the Speaker Diarization plug-in in your DAW program. 3) Browse your recording in WAV format and choose number of speakers inside the recording. 4) Adjust sensitivity, minimum segment length, or expected speaker count. 5) Export automatically speaker's in root folder. System Requirements Windows 10 or later (64-bit or 32-bit). macOS 10.15+ (Intel or Apple Silicon). DAW supporting VST3 (Audition only supports effects, not instruments). CPU: SSE4.1+ (most CPUs since 2010). ~30 MB disk space for plug-in + model files. What's Included SpeakerDiarization.vst3 (x86, x64, arm64). ONNX model (.onnx) pre-optimized for real-time. Lifetime license with free minor updates. Licensing & Support Perpetual License: purchase once, use forever. Email support via your Gumroad order page Take your podcast, interview, and post-production workflow to the next level. Buy Speaker Diarization now and stop manually chopping audio — let AI do the hard work. All sales are final, and no refunds will be issued for this product due to its digital nature. If you encounter any issues or need assistance, feel free to contact me at: pr.germux@gmail.com. I'll be happy to help resolve any questions or concerns. Read More

Traders watch XRP, ETH, SOL and HYPE now that Bitcoin trades below $100KBitcoin’s drop below the $100,000 support pulled ETH, XRP, SOL, and HYPE lower, but a relief rally may be around the corner.

Has a Nuke Gone Off? IndicatorLook out of a window, ask yourself the question, “Has a nuke gone off?”. Maybe, maybe not, and all of us here at Hackaday need to know the answer to these important questions! Introducing the hasanukegoneoff.com Indicator from [bigcrimping] to answer our cries.
An ESP32 running a MicroPython script handles the critical checks from hasanukegoneoff.com for any notification of nuclear mayhem. This will either power the INS-1 neon bulb, indicating “no” or “yes” in the unfortunate case of a blast. Of course, there is also the button required for testing the notification lights; no chance of failure can be left. All of this is fitted onto a custom dual-sided PCB and placed inside a custom 3D-printed enclosure.
Hasanukegoneoff.com’s detection system, covered before here, relies on an HSN-1000L Nuclear Event Detector to check for neutrons coming from the blast zone. [bigcrimping] also provides the project plans for your own blast detector to answer the critical question of “has a nuke gone off” from anywhere other than the website’s Chippenham, England location.
This entire project is open sourced, so keep sure to check out [bigcrimping]’s GitHub for both portions of this project on the detector and receiver. While this project provides some needed dark humor, nukes are still scary and especially so when disarming them with nothing but a hacksaw and testing equipment.
Thanks to [Daniel Gooch] for the tip.

Sound Radix update Auto-Align Post 2 Sound Radix have just announced the launch of a free update that brings a range of fixes and performance upgrades to the post-production version of their renowned time- and phase-alignment plug-in. 

Cathie Wood's ARK dumps $146M in Circle amid share surgeDespite the massive sale, ARK remains the eighth largest Circle holder.

European leaders worry they’re too reliant on U.S. techEuropean governments may be reconsidering their use of American technology and services, according to a new report in The New York Times.

NatLife Sounds ACID V1 for Xfer Serum 2Start your acid journey with ACID Basslines V1 — the first release in NatLife's new series. This soundbank delivers 50 handcrafted acid bass presets for Xfer Serum 2. Each preset includes a built-in, tempo-synced MIDI-style sequence. Use these sounds to create powerful Acid lines in seconds. The presets respond instantly and follow your DAW's tempo with precision. What's inside: 50 fully produced acid bass presets for Serum 2. One custom MIDI-style sequence embedded in each preset. Seamless sync with your project's tempo. Perfect for Acid, Trance, Acid Techno, Psytrance, and beyond. Drop them into your project and start building acid tracks instantly. ACID Basslines V1 is just the beginning of this evolving series. More volumes are on the way. Macro controls enabled for quick adjustment of filter cutoff and key modulation parameters, allowing easy sound shaping on the fly. https://youtu.be/5bljbl7hfDY?si=uzZD-DtXXFfiyfWt Read More

Converting an E-Paper Photo Frame into Weather MapHere’s a great hack sent in to us from [Simon]. He uses an e-paper photo frame as a weather map!
By now you are probably aware of e-paper technology, which is very low power tech for displaying images. E-paper only uses energy when it changes its display, it doesn’t draw power to maintain a picture it has already rendered. The particular e-paper used in this example is fairly large (as e-paper goes) and supports color (not just black and white) which is why it’s expensive. For about US$100 you can get a 5.7″ 7-color EPD display with 600 x 448 pixels.

Beyond the Inky Frame 5.7″ hardware this particular hack is mostly a software job. The first program, written in python, collects weather data from the UK Met Office. Once that image data is available a BASH script is run to process the image files with imagemagick. Finally a Micro Python script runs on the Pico to download the correct file based on the setting of the real-time clock, and update the e-paper display with the weather map.
Thanks to [Simon] for sending this one in via the tipsline. If you have your own tips, please do let us know! If you’re interested in e-paper tech we have certainly covered that here in the past, check out E-Paper Anniversary Counter Is A Charming Gift With Minimal Power Draw and A Neat E-Paper Digit Clock (or Four).
The video below the break is a notice from the UK Met Office regarding their data services.

MusicTech’s favourite studio gear of 2025 — so farYou probably know you don’t need high-end gear to make music. But let’s be real — some hardware can light up your creativity in a way software sometimes can’t. It might be a mind-bending synth, a slick new controller or a reimagined classic. And, rest assured, 2025 has already seen a ton of new, exciting products that are sure to get you inspired.
Maybe you’re on the lookout for a piece of kit to make your studio a little more interesting this year; a new MIDI keyboard, a powerful outboard compressor or even just a unique synth. MusicTech’s reviewers have spent the year so far getting hands-on with the freshest hardware out there — here’s the gear that’s made a lasting impression, and that we think you should check out.
READ MORE: MusicTech’s favourite plugins of 2025 — so far
I’ve never heard anything quite like the Beetlecrab Tempera
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
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I was blown away by the Beetlecrab Tempera. The instrument is, at heart, a granular sampler, but one that’s uniquely performable, thanks to an 8×8 grid of touch-sensitive cells. Each cell represents a portion of a sample and lights in one of four colours when touched, and each colour represents an independent granular engine that extracts its grains from the cells lit in its colour. Playing Tempera is an astonishing experience. As with any sample-based instrument, the results are derived from whatever sounds are loaded, but the scope for creating variations and sonic flourishes by interacting with the cells is something entirely new. I’ve lost hours to Tempera, exploring unexpected timbral avenues whilst revelling in its innovative quirkiness. I’ve never seen — or heard — anything quite like it!

Read more: What is granular synthesis, and how do I use it?

Tempera opens entirely new windows into creative sound design, turning simple audio samples into expressive and deeply interactive sonic elements with which to craft instruments, jam beats, and explore otherworldly soundscapes.
When I reviewed the Tempera, there was one key takeaway: “Put simply, Tempera could be the best tool ever created for producers of soundtracks and ambient music.”
— Adam Crute
Warm Audio WA76-A and WA76-D are simply sublime
WA76-A. Image: Press
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Warm Audio never fails to impress with its affordable recreations of classic gear, and the company delivered a double whammy with the WA76-A and WA76-D. Based on two revered versions of the UREI 1176, the new models are available both as traditional mono units or, in the case of the A2 and D2, dual channel/stereo. The 76-A models replicate the sound of original late 1960s units, while the 76-Ds mimic the smoother and less noisy characteristics of a mid-70s revision.
In my review of the WA76, I noted: “Warm Audio’s superb build quality and value for money is a given these days, so the additional flexibility of switchable impedance, high-pass filter and the Wet/Dry control makes either version a must-hear audition choice if you’re in the market for a classic 1176-style compressor.”
It’s ironic that back in the days of 24-track analogue recording, all the engineers were obsessed with noise reduction, hence revision D. But now in the clean digital age, it’s often good to inject a little noise and saturation for an analogue vibe. That’s why the ‘Blue Stripe’ WA76-A gets my vote!
— John Pickford
Soma Labs Lyra-4
Image: Terrence O’Brien
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I am a sucker for a good drone. I unabashedly love Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, and am a huge fan of ambient artists like GAS and drone metal act Sunn O))). The Soma Labs Lyra-4 is an instrument designed with drones in mind. Like I said in my review of the Lyra-4, it isn’t going to be for everyone, and you won’t reach for it all the time. But when you want a truly electric drone that sounds like it’s about to escape the speakers and do your listener physical harm, there are few instruments better suited to the task.
The Lyra-4 interface is also visceral and physical in a way that other instruments aren’t. There’s no keyboard — instead, you physically complete electrical circuits with your body (or something else conductive).
It’s easy to dismiss the Lyra-4 as just a cut-down version of the Lyra-8, an incredible but expensive instrument. But by sticking to the essentials, the Lyra-4 keeps the price reasonable. And affordability is important when you’re talking about something this niche.
— Terrence O’Brien
Roland V-Stage 88 — the last keyboard you’ll ever need?
Side of the V-Stage 88. Image: Press
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There are surprisingly few high-end stage keyboards that really get to the heart of what a live player needs when they’re performing. Endless menu diving is definitely out, but real-time controls, sensibly arranged, are most definitely in. The V-Stage 88 is a hefty beast for sure, and not inexpensive, but it’s a class leader for real players.
With four separate sound engines — piano, EP, tone wheel and ZenCore synth all from Roland’s first-rate libraries, its top panel controls provide exactly what you need to tweak and play amazing keyboard instruments on stage, while round the back it has a wealth of ins and outs both for live and studio work. Its only serious competition is Nord’s Stage 4, which costs more and arguably isn’t as easy to use in a live scenario.
Serious players will tell you that a keyboard that feels fantastic to play will make them play better and want to play more. That’s a rare thing, and the V-Stage definitely has it. As I said when I reviewed it: “If your business is music, the V-Stage just might be the last performance keyboard you ever need.”
— Hollin Jones
Arturia KeyLab 88 MK3 is a mammoth controller
Arturia KeyLab 88 MK3. Image: Arturia
Arturia’s KeyLab 88 mk3 bestows MIDI control with all the tactile joy and playability I could ever want as an instrumentalist; with generous amounts of DAW control, a full-colour screen and a gorgeous keyboard design, it’s the king of MIDI controllers in 2025. I put in my review that “it’s such a pleasure to play that it will let you max out the potential of your plugins, even more than you think,” — and I truly meant that.
This mammoth MIDI controller is the crowning glory for any remotely computer-leaning studio setup. With a gorgeous, fully weighted Fatar TP/110 hammer-action keybed, a host of handy DAW control features (with custom mapping for different DAWS), a selection of tactile controls such as pads, faders and rotary encoders, and numerous performance features such as Scale Mode, Chord Play and an onboard arpeggiator, it sets new standards for software control. And did I mention the wooden sides?
— Vincent Joseph
The post MusicTech’s favourite studio gear of 2025 — so far appeared first on MusicTech.