The Live Beat: Of Monsters and MenLooks like the parade is coming our way—specifically The Mouse Parade. Iceland’s beloved indie-pop storytellers Of Monsters and Men are packing up their folklore and heartache and heading back to North America this fall in support of their brand-new record All is Love And Pain in The Mouse Parade (out October 17 via Skarkali Records).The trek kicks off in October, winding through November with stops in Toronto, Brooklyn, Washington D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and Los Angeles. Before parading into the States, the band will tune things up south of the border with a set at Mexico City’s Corona Capital Festival.This marks the group’s first full-length in six years, following 2019’s Fever Dream, the album that gave us stadium-sized anthems like “Crystals” and further cemented the band’s reputation for blending mythical imagery with heart-on-sleeve songwriting. The new record promises more of that signature Icelandic alchemy—wistful balladry laced with volcanic crescendos—that has carried them from Reykjavík coffeehouses to the world’s biggest festival stages.Of Monsters and Men still march forward with their original five-piece core: Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, Ragnar Þórhallsson, Brynjar Leifsson, Kristján Páll Kristjánsson, and Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson. Together, they’ve built a catalog that balances wide-eyed wonder with a weathered, lived-in melancholy.North America, consider this your invitation to the parade.More info and ticket prices HERE.The post The Live Beat: Of Monsters and Men first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

How Big Gigantic and Opiuo produce their unique genre of funk-fuelled electronic musicNot that many years ago, iconic artists were trashing EDM and its culture for its “stupid simplicity”. Today, talented multi-instrumentalists, such as Big Gigantic and Opiuo, are designing a new version of EDM that seamlessly blends virtuosic jazz saxophone, dubstep growls and deep house basslines. Maybe it’s not so simple after all?
Big Giantic and Opiuo often write boom-bap beats that sit in the 80-100 BPM range, which is their ideal foundation for genre-melding. Major rappers such as Waka Flocka Flame and Logic have recorded with Big Gigantic, and Opiuo has covered funk classics like No Parking (On the Dance Floor) from the iconic 80s outfit, Midnight Star.

READ MORE: “What if we just flipped the process?”: Matteo Pagamici and Michael Künstle on playing an orchestra like a synthesizer

At this point, both have released numerous albums fueled by this crossover flair. Big Gigantic just put out their eighth album, Fluorescence, back in June, and Opiuo’s next record, Ascension Seeker, will be released in September.
With so much experience, this established approach has seen them booked at major non-electronic events such as the Newport Jazz Festival, and they’ve arranged their music to perform with full symphony orchestras. To boot, they are far from the only ones supporting this style. The electronic trendsetter GRiZ is a fellow champion, while younger acts such as Marvel Years and Vincent Antone are bringing their own, decidedly guitar-driven flavour, to the trend.
Opiuo’s live show, complete with orchestra. Image: Press
But in terms of sheer longevity, Big Gigantic are among the originators, putting out their saxophone-heavy EP, High Life, in 2009.
“It’s cool to see it keep developing, as it will continue to develop for years to come, hopefully,” says Dominic Lalli of Big Gigantic.
“The more people bring it, the more people hear it, but also the more it gets pushed forward and pushes other genres forward,” says Opiuo, real name Oscar Davey-Wright. “As that evolves, it impacts everything else.”
Big Gigantic consists of Lalli playing saxophone and producing electronic beats, and Jeremy Salken playing drums. They evolved into leaders of this crossover movement from playing jazz and funk gigs together for years. But their interests overlapped with artists like STS9 and Pretty Lights, who were early ambassadors of using electronic music elements, like samples, over jam band formats.
Big Gigantic’s Jeremy Salken on drums. Image: Press
“What we were trying to do early on was somewhere in that realm. [Asking ourselves], ‘How can we mix some of this live element jamming and some of the sampling and beats mixture of what Pretty Lights was doing into our own sound?’” Lalli says.
Davey-Wright grew up attending electronic music festivals in his native New Zealand, where he appreciated the widespread, but also stock and trade genres being presented.
“[At festivals,] there was always a trance stage, a house stage, a hard house stage, and I loved it all,” Davey-Wright says. He paired this universal appreciation with his upbringing of playing drums to fill a gap in what he wasn’t hearing at those events. “I always had a heavy passion for rhythm, and I loved big bass lines. Often, the beats in my music are relatively simple, but it gives me the opportunity to fill all of the extra groove with sounds that are foreign to that genre.”
Integrating electronic sounds has been vital to filling that gap, but Lalli and Salken also saw an overlap within the underlying form of electronic music and jazz and funk. No matter how different they sounded, there was always tension and release, similar to a buildup and drop.

“Whether it was a jazz gig or a funk gig, there was this element of building a solo. You build it to a peak, and then you drop it,” Salken says. “That concept of building energy is the same in dance music as it is in a jam band. Bringing the two together to make this experience felt unique. It was a way to nerd out on our instruments, but still play dance music, and have that concept.”
Both artists have their ways of nerding out when they’re building their music in the studio. Lalli often works with samples, just like Pretty Lights. When he records his saxophone into an electronic backdrop without any embellishment, the divide between organic and synthetic can create a discrepancy in the mix.
“It just doesn’t have the same flavour if you just do it directly, especially when you’re trying to build a new horn line,” Lalli remarks.
However, after creating in this style for so long, he’s developed a series of horn samples that are already EQ’d. He layers these samples around the live saxophone or other horns he may record, so they’re not prominent in the mix but provide support to the instrumental line.
“[The samples] are not far out in the mix, because it would sound weird. They’re back in the mix a bit. It gives it this really meaty [sound] that you wouldn’t get if I brought in five horns,” Lalli continues. “Adding this element is the core. You can put all this stuff around it. It really gives it that beefiness that it needs in the song.”
The resulting mix is so seamless that Salken, who is often separate from the production process, wasn’t even aware that Lalli incorporates this technique into the music.

Davey-Wright isn’t a horns player, so when he needs recordings, he reaches out to fellow musicians like Russ Liquid, who also operates in this instrumental electronic space, and Benny Bloom, the trumpet player from the celebrated funk band Lettuce. Once he has their parts, his process is subtractive rather than additive:
“No matter what I get back, I’m always going to pull it apart. They give me a palette of sound. I’ll try and make a new song using the minimal amounts of things possible to give it just enough of the original,” Davey-Wright says. “That’s the same as when I have live instruments. I like grabbing the piece they gave me, and messing with it as much as I can to see where I can go with it, and then sometimes coming back closer to the original.”
Davey-Wright’s method of smashing and rebuilding can mean dragging and dropping pieces of the recording into an entirely new horn line. One example is his 2016 song, Jelly. He was sent a recording, then he chopped it up, then a saxophone player rerecorded his new version, then he chopped it up again.
“It’s kind of a never-ending thing until it just hits, and you can just imagine someone rocking it,” Davey-Wright says. Overall, whenever he reaches out for horn recordings, he treats it like a collaboration between two equal parts:
Big Gigantic. Image:Press
“Maybe they’ll nail your vision. Maybe they’ll be miles away. Maybe your vision doesn’t even exist until you hear someone playing on it. When you can sit there for hours on end, playing a loop, grabbing singular hits for different saxophone tones, and moving them around, there’s freedom in that because you’re not influenced by anything else. After a while, you’re actually starting to create this instrument that you can’t play, potentially, and that’s pretty satisfying.”
Whatever anyone may think about electronic music or EDM, it’s the only genre that allows for the opportunity to create an instrument that can’t be played. Such a feat requires the union of technology and music. Opiuo and Big Gigantic are taking that union in a funky direction, but there’s no telling how it will evolve in the future.
The post How Big Gigantic and Opiuo produce their unique genre of funk-fuelled electronic music appeared first on MusicTech.

BandMGT: All-in-One Platform For Gigging MusiciansBandMGT is an all-in-one freemium platform for gigging musicians designed to replace endless juggling of spreadsheets, calendars, shared docs and group chats.
The post BandMGT: All-in-One Platform For Gigging Musicians appeared first on Hypebot.

ALM/Busy Circuits announce the Stem Ripper ALM/Busy Circuits's latest Eurorack module allows users to record eight-channel multitracks directly from their modular rig without the need for any external equipment.

We called Baby Audio’s Smooth Operator Pro plugin a “must-try” – it’s now just £59 at Plugin BoutiquePlugin Boutique is running a sale on a range of Baby Audio plugins, including the Pro version of its Smooth Operator spectral signal balancer.
The plugin, which is essentially a souped-up EQ-compressor hybrid, received a glowing review from MusicTech this summer following its April launch, in which we called it a “must-try” for mixing and mastering engineers. It’s one of 11 deals currently active on Baby Audio products via Plugin Boutique.
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Currently down from its list price of £99, you can now get your hands on Smooth Operator Pro for just £59. The original launched back in 2021, but this newer upgraded version introduced a complete overhaul of its features, with a vast number of improvements guided by user feedback.
According to Baby Audio, these changes were implemented without “compromising on the fast workflow that made Smooth Operator 1 so popular”. On the whole, the plugin is made to remove the bloated frequency energy your tracks don’t need by eliminating mud, harsh resonances, and masking.
It helps you to fix specific problem areas with “surgical control”, or you can re-shape the tonal balance of a mix entirely. Users can simply set their desired target curve, then turn the global threshold knob until the plugin starts balancing the audio, or experiment with a range of optional deep settings for further control.

A number of other Baby Audio gems included in Plugin Boutique’s sale are its Crystalline reverb, now just £29, and its Super VHS multi-effects tool, which taps into the lo-fi tones of old synths and tapes (this is down to £23).
If you’d like to go all-out on a feast of Baby Audio goodies, there’s also a Complete Bundle available for £219 with a saving of £100. Inside, you’ll get access to all of its award-winning plugins, including Humanoid, Transit 2, BA-1, Atoms, and plenty more – including Smooth Operator Pro.
To view the full range of Baby Audio deals, head over to Plugin Boutique.
The post We called Baby Audio’s Smooth Operator Pro plugin a “must-try” – it’s now just £59 at Plugin Boutique appeared first on MusicTech.

How to get Teenage Engineering’s OP-XY at a discountThe Teenage Engineering OP-XY synthesiser workstation is notoriously pricey at a hefty $2,300, but we’ve seen a way you can get it for less via zZounds.
First introduced in November last year, the OP-XY is the successor to the Swedish brand’s OP-Z synth, described as an “all-in-one powerful synthesiser and composer with deep, direct sequencing capabilities”. It takes the advanced sequencing of the OP-Z and places it in a smaller enclosure, more similar to the brand’s OP-1.

READ MORE: “The computer case you can’t buy… ‘cause it’s free”: A Teenage Engineering freebie? The Computer-2 is here

Although a sophisticated synth, its high price puts it out of reach for many music makers. We even compiled a guide to all the things you could buy for the same price or less – including all nine of Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators, an OP-1, an OP-Z, and an EP-133 K.O II for less than the sum of the mighty OP-XY.  Still, the OP-XY is beloved by many — it’s even received praise from Azealia Banks, who said she was “obsessed” with it in an Instagram post.
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If you’ve been holding out for a deal on the OP-XY, now’s the time. You can currently grab one for less via zZound’s open-box buyer’s option — these are listed only as like-new or in very good condition, so they make a perfect option if you want to get your hands on one, and you’re not bothered by cosmetics or packaging.
The OP-XY is available for $2,061 in like-new condition via zZounds, meaning only its packaging has been compromised. You can get it for even less at $1,944 in very good condition, which may have small scratches or scuffs – though still inclusive of all parts, the manual, and a full factory warranty.
You can refresh your memory on how it sounds below:

To find out more about the Teenage Engineering OP-XY or purchase one now, head over to zZounds.
The post How to get Teenage Engineering’s OP-XY at a discount appeared first on MusicTech.

Red Timbre Audio GraphitiBring new life to your sample library with Graphiti, an analysis-based granular sampler and synthesizer for creating new instruments, textures, and foley. This innovative tool uses analysis and AI to organize sample audio into clusters of grains, creating a sonic space that you can explore intuitively by drawing paths to produce unique mashups of your sound library. Simply drag and drop your samples, select your analysis features, and let Graphiti paint you a picture. Crafted for musicians, sound designers, game developers, and foley artists, Graphiti embodies our commitment to creative audio software offering new ways to create and explore audio. YouTube.com/watch?v=uJ0j2wnFDDc Read More

e-instruments releases FREE Desolate Guitars Fragment for Kontakt Player
e-instruments releases Desolate Guitars Fragment, a FREE vintage chime guitar instrument for Kontakt Player Desolate Guitars Fragment is the lite version of the premium Desolate Guitars library (€149), and it’s available to download for free. You’ll need Kontakt Player 7.6.1 or higher, which is also free. The primary difference between the two versions is that [...]
View post: e-instruments releases FREE Desolate Guitars Fragment for Kontakt Player

Dystopian Waves releases Drox, a FREE glitch effect for Ableton Live
Dystopian Waves has released Drox, a free Max for Live device for glitchy, real-time audio manipulation in Ableton Live. If you’re into creative sound mangling, this one’s worth checking out. I don’t personally use Ableton Live, so I haven’t tested Drox, but it looks like a really fun tool for anyone who enjoys glitch processing, [...]
View post: Dystopian Waves releases Drox, a FREE glitch effect for Ableton Live

Sonnox Oxford Inflator is just $19 but the offer ends TODAY!
Sonnox has slashed the price of Oxford Inflator to just $19 at Plugin Boutique, down from a whopping $200, but the offer ends today. If you’ve been curious about this well-loved loudness enhancer from Sonnox, now is the perfect time to check it out. I stumbled onto the Oxford Inflator many years ago while searching [...]
View post: Sonnox Oxford Inflator is just $19 but the offer ends TODAY!

The Crow Hill Company release Lo-Fi Strings The latest Vaults release delivers a selection of string sounds that are described as “unrefined, and fully adulterated through a knackered cassette tape with just a pinch of wobble”. 

Qubic community, Monero's 51% attacker, votes to target Dogecoin nextThe community for Qubic, an AI-focused blockchain project, voted to target the Dogecoin network over Zcash and Kaspa by a wide margin.

GPT-5 is supposed to be nicer nowOpenAI announced late Friday that it’s updating its latest model to be “warmer and friendlier.”

2025 One Hertz Challenge: A Flaming Oscillator and a New Take on the Candle Clock
Candle clocks were once an easy way to build a clock without using complex mechanical devices: just observe how quickly a thin candle burns down, mark an identical candle with periodic gradations, and you had a simple timer. These were the first candle-based timekeeping devices, but as [Tim]’s flicker-based oscillator demonstrates, they’re certainly not the only way to keep time with a flame.
Generally speaking, modern candles minimize flickering by using a wick that’s designed to balance the amount of wax and air drawn into the flame. However, when several candles are brought close together, their flames begin to interfere with each other, causing them to flicker in synchrony. The frequency of flickering is a function of gravity and flame diameter alone, so a bundle of three candles will flicker at a fairly constant frequency; in [Tim]’s case, it was about 9.9 Hz.
To sense this oscillation, [Tim] originally used a phototransistor to detect the flame’s light, but he wanted an even simpler solution. He positioned a wire just above the flame, so that as it flickered it would periodically contact the wire. A flame has a different dielectric constant than air does, so the capacitance between this and another wire wrapped around the bundle of candles fluctuates with the flame. To sense this, he used a CH32V003 microcontroller, which reads capacitance, performs some signal processing to get a clean signal, counts oscillations, and uses this time signal to blink an LED once a second. The final result is unusually mesmerizing for a blinking LED.
In something of the reverse of this project, we’ve also seen an oscillator used for an (artificial) candle. There’s also a surprising amount of science that can be learned by studying candles.

Dystopian Waves DroxDrox is a powerful, real-time audio manipulation device for Ableton Live, designed to bring unpredictability, movement, and rhythmic chaos to your tracks. It combines glitch, jump, and stutter effects into a single, intuitive interface, allowing producers and live performers to create everything from subtle tape-style imperfections to extreme, glitchy textures. With Drox, you can: Simulate tape dropouts and physical imperfections for a vintage, lo-fi character. Trigger CD-style skips and jumps that instantly add surprise and rhythmic variation. Generate stuttered repetitions that can evolve dynamically, with random pitch, filter, and playback variations for a lively, ever-changing soundscape. Control the balance and playback direction of the processed audio with a simple Master section, giving you fine control over wet/dry mix and forward/reverse playback. Whether you're adding subtle imperfections to a cinematic soundscape, creating aggressive glitch textures for electronic music, or experimenting with rhythmic chaos in live performance, Drox puts a wide palette of creative possibilities at your fingertips. https://youtu.be/k9xhkDXxrxQ Read More