A Serial Mouse for a Homebrew 8-bit Computer[Too Many Wires] has a custom computer he’s building. He wanted a mouse, but USB is a bit of a stretch for the fledgling computer. We might have opted for PS/2, but he went for something even older: a serial mouse connected with a DE-9 (colloquially, a DB-9). Check it out in his recent video update on the project below.
Don’t remember serial mice? They were very common many years ago, and apparently, you can still buy new ones, which makes you wonder what people are doing with them. If you are an old hand at serial, you’ll immediately know why he couldn’t get it to work at first. If you haven’t worked with RS-232 gear before, you’ll learn a lot.
The protocol is simple enough, and you can read the code or find plenty of old documents. He’s using a UART chip, which offloads the CPU. However, the PS/2 mice are very easy to work with directly, and you could skip the +/- 12V RS-232 and other issues.
Either way, however, using an RS-232 or PS/2 mouse in a project is relatively straightforward. You might not think you need a mouse, but don’t forget, they are really accurate two-axis sensors. An optical mouse on a motion table, for example, could be worth something.
The computer is based on [Ben Eater]’s design, if you want more details on that. Can’t decide between RS-232 and PS/2? You don’t have to.

Trump says Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch might invest in TikTok dealThe Trump administration has been talking up a potential TikTok deal this weekend, with President Donald Trump telling Fox News on Sunday that Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan are "probably" going to be involved.

23DSP releases FREE 23MS-ED Mid/Side Encoder/Decoder plugin (open beta)
23MS-ED is a free stereo tool that allows you to process the mid and side channels independently. The plugin is available in AU and VST3 formats for macOS and Windows, and you can download it directly from the developer’s Gumroad profile after entering a value of €0 or greater. Apple users will encounter the familiar [...]
View post: 23DSP releases FREE 23MS-ED Mid/Side Encoder/Decoder plugin (open beta)

KAGE Music launch free KG Series plug-in suite KAGE Music have introduced the KG Series, a collection of free, analogue-inspired audio plug-ins aimed at lowering barriers for music creators.

Film - TV - Theater - Games: DropsMercury Studios has announced the Blu-ray release of Peter Gabriel: Taking the Pulse, which drops on October 10 and captures the former Genesis front man’s powerful performance with the New Blood Orchestra. Filmed at the historic Arena di Verona in Italy in 2010 and directed by Anna Gabriel, the concert features Gabriel performing songs from his album New Blood with bold orchestral reinterpretations of his beloved songs, arranged by John Metcalfe. With 50 musicians, vocalists Melanie Gabriel and Ane Brun, and a striking visual backdrop, the film showcases Gabriel’s enduring artistry through a dramatic, reimagining of his most popular songs. Get it at store.mercurystudios.co.Depeche Mode’s concert film Depeche Mode: M will receive a limited theatrical and IMAX release beginning on October 28 and following the film’s Tribeca premiere earlier in the year. Directed by Fernando Frías de la Parra (Oscar-nominated I’m No Longer Here), the documentary captures the band’s three sold-out Mexico City performances to more than 200,000 fans at Estadio GNP Seguros during the English electronic group’s Memento Mori Tour in 2023. Released through Sony Music Vision and Trafalgar Releasing, the film screened in more than 2,500 theaters worldwide. Blending live performance with cultural storytelling, Depeche Mode: M examines music, mortality and Mexican death traditions, while celebrating the musical legacy of the band. Find out if the film will be showing near you at depechemodem.com. GRAMMY Award-winning composer Carla Patullo released her new album Nomadica, inviting listeners into a “dreamlike realm of memory and music.” Influenced by the loss of her mother, Patullo crafted an entrancing soundscape of ethereal vocals, orchestral swells and electronic pulses, while weaving in recordings of trains, water, and wind. Featuring contributions from Martha Mooke, Lorenza Ponce, Leah Coloff, Tonality choir, Martha Wainwright, Frederika Krier, and the Scorchio Quartet, this album is a musical journey through grief and healing, and a meditation on love and connection. For more information, contact Sarah Roche at sarah@whitebearpr.com.T-65b Records has released the Original Game Soundtrack for Giant Squid’s Sword of the Sea, featuring music by award-winning composer Austin Wintory. Departing from his lush orchestral and global folk styles, Wintory crafted a score centered on solo piano and children’s choir, with solo strings contributed by cellist Tina Guo, custom Native American drone flutes and winds by Kristin Naigus, men’s choir, and electronics. As in all Giant Squid titles, the score is dynamic and adapts to gameplay, underscoring an atmospheric surfing adventure that explores humanity’s relationship with nature. It’s inspired by classic skateboarding and snowboarding games. Contact Chris Galasso at chris@whitebearpr.com for further details. FX and Hollywood Records has released Alien: Earth (Original Soundtrack), created by Emmy-winning composer Jeff Russo (Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, The Last Rodeo) as the musical companion to the first of the sci-fi horror Alien franchise to take place on Earth. Russo brought in new musical textures while honoring the franchise’s earlier two scores, sustaining the haunting tension of the original film—the Ridley Scott creation released in 1979—while channeling the momentum of the second film. Russo used voices with acoustic instruments to humanize the score, which he said was to find the connection between alien, human and hybrid, amplifying the series’ high-stakes narrative of survival and terror on Earth. For more information, contact Chris Galasso at chris@whitebearpr.com.The post Film - TV - Theater - Games: Drops first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Crypto ready for 'up only' mode once US TGA hits $850B target: Arthur HayesLiquidity is set to flow into private financial markets once the United States Treasury fills its General Account with $850 billion.

White House offers more details about potential TikTok dealThe White House press secretary said Americans will hold six of seven board seats in the restructured TikTok, and the video app’s algorithm will be U.S.-controlled.

Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki’s Mission Has EndedJapan’s Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki was launched on May 21, 2010, and started its active mission in 2015 after an initial orbital insertion failure. Since that time, Akatsuki has continuously observed Venus from orbit until issues began to crop up in 2024 when contact was lost in April of that year due to attitude control issues. Japan’s space agency, JAXA, has now announced that the mission has officially ended on September 18, 2025, after a period of trying to coax the spacecraft back into some level of functionality again.
The Akatsuki spacecraft in 2010 before its launch. (Credit: JAXA)
The Akatsuki spacecraft had six instruments, consisting of cameras covering the visible spectrum, ultraviolet and infrared spectra, as well as an oscillator for radio occultation experiments.
All primary mission goals were successfully completed in April of 2018, but engineers determined Akatsuki was capable of lasting at least another few years. This puts it well past its original design lifespan, and has provided us with much more scientific data than we could have hoped for.
Unfortunately, the shutdown of Akatsuki represents the end of the last active Venus mission, with much uncertainty surrounding any potential upcoming mission to Earth’s near-twin planet. The next potential mission is the Venus Life Finder, as an atmospheric mission penciled in for a 2026 launch. It would take at least until 2028 for a potential orbiter mission to launch, so for the foreseeable future Venus will be left alone, without its artificial moon that has kept it company for a decade.

Revealed Recordings Revealed Diva Keys Vol. 2Revealed Diva Keys Vol. 2 is a collection of 80 presets to bring your melodies to life with rich expression. From lush analog keys and soulful organs to punchy house chords and futuristic rave stabs, each preset captures the warmth and richness Diva is known for while pushing into fresh, modern territory. Additionally, every preset contains modwheel control assignments for intuitive modulation options. With Diva Keys Vol. 2, you gain a versatile suite of source sounds to elevate your productions across House, Dance Pop, Techno, Progressive, Synthwave, and Trance. Reveal Yourself. Revealed Diva Keys Vol. 2 - Details KEY [80]. 80 presets Core synthesizer patch mapping and programming All presets assigned intuitive modwheel parameters. Preset format(s): .h2p Note: Presets Require Full Retail Version of u-he's Diva 1.5 or later Approx. 7.66MB Compressed .zip download. Read More

Artists in DSP MYON 1.1 Reverb Plugin is FREE for BPB readers until September 22
Artists in DSP has released version 1.1 of MYON, a unique recursive reverb plugin for macOS and Windows. To celebrate the update, the plugin is available for free until September 22. Just use the code MYONBPB at checkout. To clarify, you’ll be asked to enter any amount on the product page before proceeding to checkout. [...]
View post: Artists in DSP MYON 1.1 Reverb Plugin is FREE for BPB readers until September 22

Dezert Audio releases Freq-2, a premium Kontakt instrument built from a rare analog synth collection
Dezert Audio has released Freq-2 ($200), a vintage synth-inspired sample instrument for Kontakt and Kontakt Player. Subscribe to Dezert Audio’s newsletter to get $50 off. Freq-2 is a sample-based instrument with some of the most inspiring production-ready synth presets I’ve heard recently, all captured in high detail and packed into a neat Kontakt interface. The [...]
View post: Dezert Audio releases Freq-2, a premium Kontakt instrument built from a rare analog synth collection

Machina Bristronica - Last Tickets! Join Sound On Sound at Machina Bristronica 2025 Bristol on 27-28th September for a weekend of world class live performances, insightful panel talks and masterclasses, DIY workshops and all the synths you can get your hands on!

Tip Jar: Bringing Music To Life In A Visually Authentic WayBy Baz HalpinTo help put what I do as a producer and director into perspective from a musical lens, I’ll start off by rewinding to my early career—before working with incredible talents like Taylor Swift, Backstreet Boys, Usher, and P!nk. I was on a path to becoming a classical musician and playing in a symphony orchestra after university. I worked in the national concert hall in Dublin, Ireland and became friendly with a lighting technician. During my shifts, I would pull out a handful of lights, turn on the radio and try to program a musical sequence before the song finished. Sort of like a sprint. I quickly developed this passion for how the lights can become a musical instrument.This next part is pretty cliche… When I was 18, I was hanging floodlights on lampposts to light Guinness banners on a rainy night in Cork (a city in the south of Ireland). I had no idea who the client was, but it turned out to be a gentleman who was the lighting designer for many of the great rock bands of the ‘80s. He traveled all over the world and lived a life I knew nothing about. I had no idea that touring existed up until this point. He was enamored by the fact that I was willing to climb a lamppost in the rain and risk electrocution and thought there was something there. He gave me the opportunity to be the lighting roadie on tour with Jethro Tull in the U.K. I thought it would just be to make some money over the summer and ended up falling in love with it. Sort of like joining the circus, I never came back.I loved the creation in this role and the fact that you’re contributing to how the music is being received by the audience. I was the lighting designer for Queen when they reformed after Freddie’s passing, with Paul Rodgers as the frontman. The music of Queen is a lighting designer’s dream. The complexity, the variety and the energy of the music lends itself so perfectly to theatrics and dramatic lighting. When the music hits that peak, or when there’s a sudden crash out, a drum fill, a guitar solo, being able to mimic those musical moments with the visuals felt like I was contributing to the experience of the music. As a designer, you have that responsibility to understand musically what’s going on. It’s not just flashing lights to a beat, but finding the different instrumentation. What’s going to represent the strings when they enter? How do you leave yourself enough space to make everything look bigger and bigger if the song keeps going? Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times” is a classic example of this. Fast forward to now, I am a director and producer, and the Founder and CEO of Silent House Group, an award-winning creative studio and production company out of L.A. To sum it up, I am responsible for bringing the music to life visually. So how do you do this in an authentic way and truly connect with your audience? Here are my tips from nearly three decades in this industry.TIP No. 1: My first tip for anyone looking to add lighting into their show starts with emotion. It can be expressed through lighting in many ways with color being the most obvious. I’ve always attributed certain music to specific colors (synesthesia) and it seems mostly nonnegotiable. Music connects and moves you in such a primitive, subconscious way and light has a similar trait. TIP No. 2: You don’t need to do everything all of the time. Don’t be afraid to go full bore and commit, but also don’t be afraid of drama or darkness. I think a lot of people get uncomfortable if there isn’t enough light on stage or if it’s a total blackout or if there’s a single spotlight on a singer. When you’re sculpting the light, you’re creating images and pictures. You’re telling a story by giving a visual home to the sonics you hear. It doesn’t always need to be flashing in time to the music. It doesn’t always need to be the brightest thing in the world. It just has to have light and shade. TIP No. 3: The third tip is to always have a clear line of communication with your lighting designer. The more descriptive you can be as an artist, the more educated your designer or creative director can be, and the better the final product. Oftentimes, what you don’t like is just as valuable as what you do like. Being able to reference images or other artists helps this tremendously. TIP No. 4: Originality. This can be the hardest thing, especially when we’re living in an age of algorithms. As an artist, look for somebody who has an original look, can understand you, and create something that is uniquely you. You want to stand out and be unique. I often hear artists saying they want to do something that’s never been done before. For the most part, everything has been done before, it’s just done in different ways. So it’s carving something out for you that feels original, but also feels authentic. Fans have a very clear understanding of their artists, and there’s sort of a contract when they come to see a show. Baz Halpin, Silent House Group CEO and Founder,  is a three-time Emmy Award winner who most recently produced Netflix’s first-of-its- kind live streaming event called Tudum 2025, Las Vegas Sphere residencies for Backstreet Boys and The Eagles, the live television special Opry100 on NBC, and returned for the second year to produce the 31st SAG Awards on Netflix. In 2024, Halpin produced the blockbuster film Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, the 98th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Usher’s 2024 Super Bowl Halftime performance, and Noche UFC at Las Vegas Sphere. Previously, he served as a producer on shows such as American Idol, American Music Awards, MTV European Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, and iHeartRadio Music Awards. He is also known for his work in producing and creating concert tours and residencies, including but not limited to: Britney Spears’ Las Vegas residency, Katy Perry’s Play Las Vegas residency and Super Bowl Halftime performance; Taylor Swift’s Eras, Reputation, 1989, Red, and Speak Now tours; Harry Styles’ Love On Tour, Live On Tour, and his 2022 Coachella-headlining performance; Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Begins Tour; and P!nk’s Truth About Love, Beautiful Trauma, Summer Carnival, Funhouse, and I’m Not Dead tours. Halpin has also directed and produced performances at the Academy Awards, GRAMMY Awards, King Charles’ coronation, and President Joe Biden’s inauguration.The post Tip Jar: Bringing Music To Life In A Visually Authentic Way first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

FTX Recovery Trust to unlock $1.6B for creditors in September disbursementThe distribution marks the third payout to creditors of the former exchange as it continues dispensing up to $16.5 billion in funds.

Why California’s SB 53 might provide a meaningful check on big AI companiesEquity debates California's new AI safety bill and why it has a better shot at becoming law.