Get the Moonwave FX Parallax multi-FX plugin for FREE at Audio Plugin Deals
You can now get the Moonwave FX Parallax multi-FX plugin for free at AudioPluginDeals. We covered a few of the Moonwave FX one-knob plugins last year, including Illume, Ripple, and Aperture. Now, we’ve got something more substantial with Parallax, a morphing, dual-engine multi-FX plugin. Parallax is available in AU, VST3, and AAX formats for macOS [...]
View post: Get the Moonwave FX Parallax multi-FX plugin for FREE at Audio Plugin Deals

Leicester Music Conference The organisers of the Leicester Music Conference have released a full programme schedule for the event, as well as announcing that the evening showcase will feature a performance from London-based rapper Professor Green.

What is frequency masking? Definition, causes, and how to fix it
Learn about what frequency masking is, when and why it happens, and how to fix it in your mix.

Live Review of CY&ICat’s Cradle Carrbora, NC

Contact: cysteelecobb@gmail.comWeb: instagram.com/cy_and_i_bandPlayers: Max McMichaels, guitar, vocals; Cy Steele-Cobb, keys; Gus O’Brien, drums; Aidan Gillette, bass

The CY&I Christmas Show at the Cat’s Cradle Back Room quietly but convincingly made the case that a modestly talented, traditional four-piece rock band can still leave a meaningful impression—and walk offstage feeling pretty damn good about their night, their young ensemble, and their delightfully wacky, left-of-center songs.

In an era bloated with overproduction, algorithm-tested sameness, and an endless stream of carefully calculated “content,” it’s easy for genuinely human bands to dissolve into the noise. Everything filters into the background haze—until suddenly, WHAMO!—out from the shadows steps a band that’s fun, uncomplicated, and refreshingly unconcerned with impressing anyone other than themselves and the room in front of them. CY&I doesn’t arrive with a manifesto or a rigid aesthetic. They simply plug in, lock eyes, and play.

There’s a developed raison d’être here—something you feel more than analyze. It’s sometimes hard to put your finger on exactly what it is, and that’s part of the charm. CY&I sounds like a band still discovering itself in real time, and that sense of discovery gives the music its pulse. Most importantly, this young four-piece is clearly having as much fun onstage as the audience is having watching and listening.

One of the most distinctive elements of CY&I’s sound is their unique instrumentation and how effectively it fills the room. While technically a four-piece, the band often feels larger than that, thanks to clever arrangements and a thoughtful use of sonic space. The interplay between guitars leans more toward texture and rhythm than showmanship, allowing songs to breathe while still sounding complete. Even in quieter moments, there’s an intentional density to the sound that keeps things grounded and engaging.

“Highway Life” kicked off the set with a Byrdsian jangle and Petty-esque twang that immediately established the band’s melodic instincts. That shimmering guitar tone—equal parts chiming and earthy—set the template for much of the night. From there, CY&I rolled seamlessly into a tight run of originals including “Tell Me Why,” “What Christmas Means to Me,” and the wonderfully off-kilter “I Try (Choo Choo).” Each song felt like another small chapter in the band’s developing narrative, quirky but never careless.

Perhaps most impressive is that despite having just one primary vocalist—the guitarist handling all lead vocals—the band never sounds thin. There’s no scramble to fill gaps or disguise limitations. Instead, the instrumental arrangements do the heavy lifting, wrapping around the vocal melodies in a way that feels natural and unforced. The rhythm section plays a crucial role here, providing a sturdy, often subtly inventive foundation that keeps the songs moving forward. The result is a sound that feels full, cohesive, and confident.

That fullness carried through “I Hate My Friends,” a sharp-edged crowd favorite that balanced humor with a hint of self-awareness, before the band barreled into “Tonight, It’ll Be Christmas Day,” closing the first stretch of the set with momentum and a room-wide grin. At no point did the energy dip; CY&I understands pacing, and they know when to lean in and when to let a groove settle.

As the set progressed, the band continued to coalesce right before the audience’s eyes. What stood out most was what wasn’t happening—no jaw-dropping, face-melting solos, no attempts at instrumental dominance. This is a band committed to supporting one another, trading small musical artifacts and arpeggios across the stage, and serving the songs above all else.The post Live Review of CY&I first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Signing Stories: Elanor MossDate Signed: October 2025Label: Merge RecordsType of Music: FolkManagement: Alex Zinovieff - Always ManagementBooking: Angie Rance - Earth AgencyLegal: Paul Spraggon - SSBPublicity: Patrick Tilley, Jacob Daneman - Pitch Perfect PR; patrick@pitchperfectpr.com, jacob@pitchperfectpr.comA&R: Mac McCaughanWeb: elanormoss.com

London’s Elanor Moss is an artist’s artist. As such, she independently released a pair of introductory EPs. That self-reliant attitude remained strong when putting together her debut full-length. Knowing she had limited financial resources, her collaborators helped fund the project. In an effort to make recording as affordable as possible, the album was completed in just two or three days. 

Yet the singer/songwriter knew how helpful it could be to have a label providing support, so she began networking. Moss sent the freshly minted LP to a friend in the Dublin music scene who recommended she pass it along to Basin Rock Records. She wisely took his advice. “They’ve put out some amazing records,” Moss enthuses regarding the outsider folk label based in Ireland. “A few months later, I got a message from Merge Records.” Basin Rock had passed it along without her knowledge. Moss felt immediate excitement, as she’s a longtime fan of Merge, home to one of her “all-time favorites,” The Magnetic Fields. 

Additionally, she found the label’s artist-led history and attitude appealing. Indeed, Merge didn’t demand any changes to the finished recording. “I just wanted to work with people who were enthusiastic about my music, love it, and understand it,” she discloses. 

Committing to Merge nonetheless depended on the offer. Since the literary artist wanted to make simultaneous inroads in both America and the U.K., tour financing remained a salient factor. “I’m thrilled to be with Merge,” the lucky signee purrs. “It feels like such a good fit, and an exciting, new start.” 

Moss points out that she focused on creating great music before seeking a label, a tactic she suggests others follow. “I was very much living by my own intuition, creatively, and then hoping it would resonate with the right home. The post Signing Stories: Elanor Moss first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Airbnb says a third of its customer support is now handled by AI in the US and CanadaAirbnb was poised to introduce an app that doesn't just search for you, but one that "knows you." CEO Brian Chesky said, "It will help guests plan their entire trip, help hosts better run their businesses, and help the company operate more efficiently at scale."

White House crypto adviser says banks shouldn't fear stablecoin yieldCrypto companies and platforms that provide stablecoin rewards have become a major point of contention in the CLARITY crypto market structure bill.

Inside Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari Style)It’s a bit ironic that an Atari 2600 game based on Raiders of the Lost Ark — a movie about archaeology — is now the subject of its own archaeological expedition as [Dennis Debro] and [Halkun] spent time reverse-engineering the game. Luckily, they shared their findings, so you can enjoy it the same way you can visit a king’s tomb without having to discover it and dig for it. If you don’t remember the game, you might enjoy the demo from [Speedy Walkthroughs] in the video below.
If you are only used to modern software, you might think this is little more than someone dumping the program code and commenting it. However, on these old, limited systems, you have to really understand the actual architecture because there are so many things you have to manage that are specific to the hardware.
For example, the game has two 4K ROM banks that use a strange switching mechanism. The entire game is built around the NTSC television signal. Everything is oriented toward generating the 60 Hz frame rate. Game logic runs during the vertical blanking and over-scan sections to prevent strange visible artifacts due to software running.
This is a fascinating look inside game coding as it existed around 1982. Of course, you can also run everything using emulation. Usually, our reverse engineering is more hardware-related. But we do love these old games, too.

From UMG’s approved Downtown deal to Spotify’s AI ambitions… it’s MBW’s weekly round-upThe biggest headlines from the past few days...
Source

Tone2 update Saurus The latest version of Saurus implements a number of new features that improve the instrument’s audio quality, along with some new quality-of-life features and a fix for a prominent bug. 

Kulshan Studios Besna House Soundset for Access Virus C & Virus B Series & Osirus95 groovy House presets, compatible with the legendary Access Virus C and Virus B series of hardware synths. This soundbank is 100% House-oriented, which means no weird brass, pianos, or FX. The patches in Besna come straight out of songs written using the Virus (and many more). So this soundset is designed to exploit the C's unison, spectral waves, and multitimbral virtual analog sound engine to their fullest potential. Patches in Besna are based on sounds from songs by the likes of John Summit, Deadmau5, Astrality, Tiesto, FISHER, Kygo, INNERVERSE, Robin Schulz, Westend, Alesso, Benassi Bros, Julien Fade, Tony Igy, Hardwell, 5HOURS, ZHU, Hayley May, Martin Garrix, Porter Robinson, Jack Villa, Morgan Page, Mord Fustang, and many many more. And to cap off the bank some patches were set to Initial, so you have room to write and store your own patches without overwriting any existing sounds. No 3rd party FX were used in these sounds. Sounds in this preset pack are suitable for the Progressive House, Deep House, Tech House, Bigroom House, Slap House, Afro House, Tropical House, and Electro House genres, and are organized by category into Leads, Plucks, Pads, and Basses, for quick reference. All patches are royalty-free and delivered instantly via email as a 24-hour download link. Requirements: Access Virus TI, TI2, Snow, or Polar synthesizer. Also compatible with Adam Szabo Viper VSTi* and the The Usual Suspects Osirus. *there will be some differences in some sounds due to differences in the architecture and features between the TI2 and Viper. Read More

Native Instruments and Ocean Swift launch Oscillarys synth, despite recent insolvency filingsNative Instruments is continuing to launch new products despite recent and widely publicised insolvency proceedings, and has partnered with virtual instrument specialist Ocean Swift on a new soft synth called Oscillarys.
The music production world was rocked last month when it was announced that Native Instruments – one of the world’s leading purveyors of hardware and software music-making tools – had entered preliminary insolvency. 
Quick to calm the concerns of existing members of the NI ecosystem was CEO Nick Williams, who confirmed business would “continue as usual” at Native Instruments, as well as at sister brands iZotope, Plugin Alliance and Brainworx.

READ MORE: MusicTech’s favourite free plugins of 2025

And with that confirmation, Native Instruments has partnered with Ocean Swift to add another virtual instrument to its already sprawling library for its Kontakt Player.

Oscillarys is Ocean Swift’s new flagship NKS instrument, which takes inspiration from Native Instruments’ much-loved Absynth 6 to deliver an instrument perfect for “cinematic scoring and deep ambience. It boasts a three-layered synthesis engine, which OS says “bridges the gap between raw texture and ethereal musicality”.
It also features a unique dual-filter stage, pairing a multi-filter with an implementation of the celebrated Monark filter found in NI’s Reaktor software.
Oscillarys comes with a huge vault of over 1,500 oscillator samples, all provided as unencoded WAV files – meaning producers can freely use the content in other samplers or directly in their DAW.
There’s also 400+ professionally crafted presets covering cinematic pads, evolving drones, leads and keyboard sounds, as well as 100+ complex Multi stacks.
Oscillarys is also outfitted with deep NKS 2 integration, meaning users can control it via an array of NKS 2-compatible hardware instruments.
“Oscillarys blurs the border between the organic and the spectral with an atmospheric synthesis engine built for motion,” says Ocean Swift. 
“By layering deeply detailed textures with sweeping filters and shifting modulations, this instrument conjures tones that breathe, dissolve, and reform – shifting seamlessly from crystalline harmonics to distant electric choirs. It offers a sonic body that is darker, smoother, and undeniably alive with motion, bridging the gap between raw texture and ethereal musicality.”

Oscillarys is available exclusively via the Native Instruments online shop now, at an introductory price of €47.40 (regular price €79.99). You can also learn more at Ocean Swift.
The post Native Instruments and Ocean Swift launch Oscillarys synth, despite recent insolvency filings appeared first on MusicTech.

Get UJAM Usynth Euphoria for $1 with exclusive BPB coupon (+ FREE gift)
Plugin Boutique offers BPB readers an exclusive deal on UJAM’s Usynth Euphoria, a streamlined EDM-focused software synthesizer for macOS and Windows. You also choose a FREE gift with your purchase. So, for a limited time, you can get Usynth Euphoria for just $1 using the coupon code BPB-ph34 at checkout. The offer runs until March [...]
View post: Get UJAM Usynth Euphoria for $1 with exclusive BPB coupon (+ FREE gift)

Chappell Roan loves the “really medieval synth s**t” that is the RuneScape soundtrackRuneScape has a legion of thousands of fans around the world, and can count superstar Chappell Roan among them, it seems.
Well, we’re not sure the extent to which the Hot To Go singer actually engages with the fantastical world of Gielinor, however she’s made one thing clear: she’s a huge fan of its soundtrack.

READ MORE: Howard Jones revisits this “king of synths” he’s owned since 1983: “2026 and it’s like a beast still”

In a new interview with Nylon, the singer and known video game lover – real name Kayleigh Rose Amstutz – waxes lyrical on the RuneScape soundtrack, pointing out in particular how much she loves its “really medieval synth shit”.
The interview itself sees Amstutz chatting with American singer-songwriter Hemlocke Springs, and at one point the conversation touches on the latter’s latest album, The Apple Tree Under the Sea.
“Your album makes me feel like I’m listening… I don’t know if you ever played RuneScape?” she asks Springs. “It’s from the early 2000s and has video game sounds down. “It’s really medieval synth shit. I’m a video game girl and I love synths and ‘80s weird shit. So when I listen to this…”
She singles out one track in particular from Springs’ album – Sever the Blight – as reminiscent of the RuneScape soundtrack she loves so much.
“[It’s] one of my top songs because I was like, ‘This makes me feel something that a lot of things don’t because it’s so multidimensional,” she continues. “And that is what I think you’re doing so effortlessly, you have so much nuance in everything you do.”
It’s not difficult to find evidence to support Chappell Roan’s claim that she’s a “video game girl”. In 2024, she praised fans whom she noticed taking photos at one of her concerts using a Nintendo DS, and urged them to “keep doing it”.
And after pleading with Epic Games for her own Chappell Roan Fortnite skin, this month finally saw her added to the game’s ever-growing roster of celebrity-themed skins.

View a full list of Chappell Roan’s upcoming live appearances at her official website.
The post Chappell Roan loves the “really medieval synth s**t” that is the RuneScape soundtrack appeared first on MusicTech.

High-end sound for imperfect rooms: Arendal Sound’s 1610 Series loudspeakers tout flagship-level performance in a more accessible packageArendal Sound has announced the 1610 Series, a new high-end loudspeaker range aimed at listeners who want flagship-level performance in a smaller, more attainable package.
Sitting just below the company’s top-tier lineup, the 1610 Series is designed around how people actually listen: at realistic distances, in normal-shaped rooms and across a mix of music and movies. While music remains the primary reference point, the system is tuned to handle film and TV naturally and convincingly.

READ MORE: Here’s why Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 headphones cost £3,000

Rather than designing for idealised, perfectly symmetrical demo spaces, Arendal says the 1610 Series is built for everyday use – systems that work consistently whether you’re locked in for a focused listening session or just streaming an album on a Tuesday night.
Every model in the range also shares the same acoustic voicing, meaning you can build out a full surround system over time without shifts in tonal character. Under the hood, the 1610 Series carries over core elements from Arendal’s higher-end designs, including its RØST Essence architecture, time-aligned driver layout, controlled dispersion via carefully shaped waveguides, and rigid HDF cabinets for reduced resonance and predictable performance.
“Since we launched 1528, many of our customers have asked us for the same confidence, build quality, and sound philosophy in a more approachable system,” says Arendal Sound founder Jan Ove Lassesen. “With 1610, we’re deliberately moving the reference point. This is high-end sound built for customers who expect real value for their money.”
The range includes four models:

1610 Bookshelf 8 – A compact three-way loudspeaker designed to deliver full, balanced sound in smaller spaces. From $3,800 per pair.
1610 Tower 8 – A full-range loudspeaker designed to deliver scale, balance, and control at realistic listening distances. From $7,900 per pair.
1610 Slim 8 – A slim, sealed loudspeaker designed for flexible placement without sacrificing tonal consistency. From $2900 per pair.
1610 Center 8 – A dedicated center loudspeaker engineered for clear, realistic dialogue across the room. From $2,500 each.

The 1610 Series is now available to order direct from Arendal Sound, with deliveries expected to begin in early March across Europe and the US.
Learn more at Arendal Sound.
The post High-end sound for imperfect rooms: Arendal Sound’s 1610 Series loudspeakers tout flagship-level performance in a more accessible package appeared first on MusicTech.