CRTs Are Too Mainstream, So Game on a Mechanical TV InsteadAside from nostalgia, people claim to like CRTs because they’re apprehendable– the technology just makes more sense than the arcane wibbly-wobbly solid-state madness going on inside the driver chip of your new OLED. CRTs weren’t the first technology used to display moving images though, and their mechanical forebears were even easier to understand. For that reason we suppose it was only a matter of time before one of The Youths– in this case a British YouTuber by the name of [smill]–tried gaming on a mechanical television display.
The game in question was Minecraft— because of course it was, that’s the new generation’s DOOM–and the mechanical TV in question is not a priceless 1920s antique but a commercial kit that reproduces [John Logie Baird]s 1925 televisor. If you’re not familiar, it uses a flat disk– called a Nipkow disk after its inventor– with a series of holes in a spiral to demodulate a single lamp’s brightness variations into monochrome image made of scan-lines. As you might imagine, the resolution depends both on the size of the disk and its speed, so with a tabletop example you’re not going to get much– in this case, 32 holes for 32 lines. At least they’re not interlaced this time.
Getting a video signal from the computer to the LED in the televisor kit was the hard part of the hack. Aside from actually playing on the diminutive monochrome display, that is. There is a “video2NBTV” tool that can do the job, as the Narrow Band TV signal used by amateur radio enthusiasts still has the compatible timing values and modulation as what the televisor kit uses. We suspect that’s because the Televisor people used the modern NBTV standard as a starting point for their electronics, since [Baird]’s device reportedly ran 30 lines at only 5 frames per second, compared to the 32 lines at 15 FPS here.
Some of you may turn your nose up at this as a mere YouTube stunt, which is fair enough. At the same time, we cannot wait for the eventual arms race. Imagine when someone decides to go for 4K cred? Staring through a supersonic Nipkow disk makes pointing a particle accelerator at your face downright mundane. The kit [smill] used was monochrome, but if you want to repeat his antics in glorious colour, you can 3D print your own TV.

Warner Music Group’s Armin Zerza adds COO role to his remit, just one year after joining as CFOZerza's new remit as COO will encompass corporate development, central marketing, business and market intelligence, and WMX
Source

Kevin Hartz’s A* just closed its third fund with $450 millionEarly-stage venture firm A* Capital just took the wraps off its $450 million Fund III.

New study shows how electronic music soothes anxiety and increases feelings of joy and connectionA new AlphaTheta backed study has revealed how movement to electronic music can help to keep anxiety at bay and increase feelings of joy, immersion and connection to others [via MusicRadar].
The study was carried out by Emma Marshall, founder of Music And Movement Is Medicine (MIM) with research led by Professor Paul Dolan from the Behavioural Science faculty at the London School of Economics.
Hosted at Drumsheds nightclub in London, participants were guided through quiet listening and breathing exercises, through seated movements, to standing, and eventually free dance, all while using devices to measure their heart rates. Approximately 60 people took part, with over 600,000 heartbeats captured across the event.

READ MORE: Superbooth 2026: The coolest new synths and music tech gear – and everything else you need to know

During the ‘guided breathing and seated’ stages, there was an 18.5 percent rise in heart rate variability, a sign that the nervous system was shifting to a calmer state. The research also revealed that when the DJ dropped the tempo during breakdowns, participants’ heart rates stayed elevated, suggesting the body had entered a state of sustained immersion. Self-reported data collected from the participants also revealed that anxiety scores fell, joy scores rose, and feelings of connection to others increased significantly.
Mark Grotefeld, AlphaTheta’s General Manager, says of the study: “At AlphaTheta, we’ve always known that music moves people – and this research offers fascinating insight of how and why. These findings open up conversation about how the tools DJs use every day can have a measurable impact on human physiology, and should change how we think about the role of music in people’s health and wellbeing.”
Paul Dolan states, “Thanks to these data, we can see how the body immediately reacts to changes in BPM. It turns out the DJ is doing something physiologically significant – not just playing music but guiding the nervous system. This opens up new ways of thinking about electronic music.”
Emma Marshall adds: “This isn’t just about dancing. When the music and the experience are structured in a specific way, they guide the body through a clear cycle – calm, build, peak, and recovery. The data shows measurable stress regulation happening in real time, not as a side effect, but as the direct result of how the experience was designed.”
Luke Huxham, Managing Director of Broadwick Live (Drumsheds) has also said the study provides language and evidence to take to local councils, policymakers, licensing authorities, and public bodies “to make a stronger argument for why [nightclubs and live music] spaces need to be protected. That feels overdue, and we’re proud to have helped facilitate this first phase of research.”
The post New study shows how electronic music soothes anxiety and increases feelings of joy and connection appeared first on MusicTech.

Get 30% off u-he Repro at Plugin Boutique for a limited time
You can now get 30% off the u-he Repro at Plugin Boutique for a limited time. Repro (includes Repro 1 and Repro 5) combines the sound of two legendary synths by Sequential: the Pro-One and the Prophet 5. Plugin Boutique’s 30% discount means you can buy Repro for $104 (usually $149) until the offer ends [...]
View post: Get 30% off u-he Repro at Plugin Boutique for a limited time

Charli XCX has invested in consumer tech brand NothingNothing – the consumer tech brand behind a series of market-shaking smartphones and ChatGPT-integrated over-ear headphones – has announced Charli XCX as its latest investor and first Global Brand Ambassador.
Though details of the partnership are minimal at this time, a post made on Nothing’s socials shows Charli wearing a pair of Nothing (a) over-ear headphones and ear (3) earbuds, and holding a (4a) pro smartphone.
“This isn’t a traditional endorsement deal,” the brand writes. “Charli is investing in Nothing and helping shape what we build from here. The campaign today is just the start. Charli is the first of more to come.”

Charli xcx is joining Nothing as our latest Shareholder and our first Global Brand Ambassador.
This isn't a traditional endorsement deal. Charli is investing in Nothing and helping shape what we build from here.
The campaign today is just the start. Charli is the first of more… pic.twitter.com/kTMorITK4N
— Carl Pei (@getpeid) May 12, 2026

And in a true display of hospitality, Nothing says it put its new guest and shareholder Charli XCX in a room for five days straight to test the battery of its Headphone (a) model. “It lasted the whole time,” the brand confidently writes.

“Our first Global Brand Ambassador and latest shareholder, Charli XCX brings her genre-crossing instincts to our new partnership,” the brand says. 
“Together, we’re changing how things are done – with music and tech for a new generation.”
“When I’m creating, I’m always thinking about how my work will be experienced out in the world and I love how Nothing headphones sound and are designed,” says Charli XCX [via Rolling Stone]. “Its ethos of prioritising creatives is really something I look for when working with a partner.”
“I’ve been a fan of Charli’s work for years, and what struck me when we started talking was how much we agreed on,” adds Nothing co-founder and CEO Carl Pei. 
Credit: Nothing
“The tech industry has spent a decade making everything quieter, more minimal, more monotonous. Charli has spent her career going the other way in pop. We want Nothing to feel more like that.”
Other music artists who are investors in Nothing include the one of the biggest artists in the world by Spotify monthly listeners, The Weeknd, and legendary DJ trio Swedish House Mafia.
Nothing has made waves in the consumer tech world since its foundation in 2020. Last year, we got our hands on the brand’s Nothing (1) headphones, commending their class-leading battery life and alluring looks and giving them a solid 7/10 rating.
Learn more about the new partnership at nothing.tech.
The post Charli XCX has invested in consumer tech brand Nothing appeared first on MusicTech.

Cavitation Fractures is a new FREE fluid-dynamics distortion plugin for macOS
Unusable Engineering has released Cavitation Fractures, a free distortion plugin for macOS inspired by fluid dynamics. I love distortions in general, and I especially enjoy trying new ones that don’t follow the standard overdrive/clipping playbook. Cavitation Fractures is one of those. It’s different but not weird in a way that you don’t know how to [...]
View post: Cavitation Fractures is a new FREE fluid-dynamics distortion plugin for macOS

Reason 14 now available With the launch of the latest version, Reason has been treated to a visual design overhaul, gained some powerful new sequencing capabilities, kitted out with new built-in effects and more. 

Get 92% off the Solid State Logic Fusion Bundle at Plugin Boutique (limited-time offer)
You can now get 92% off the Solid State Logic Fusion Bundle at Plugin Boutique in a limited-time offer. The Solid State Logic Fusion Bundle delivers the core elements of the SSL Fusion analogue 2U rack processor. SSL Fusion Bundle includes five distinct plugins, each taken from a section of the hardware unit. Fusion HF [...]
View post: Get 92% off the Solid State Logic Fusion Bundle at Plugin Boutique (limited-time offer)

Black Lion Audio introduce the Auteur 8DAT Black Lion Audio’s latest delivers an eight-channel preamp and master clock unit that can be used to expand any interface with spare ADAT I/O.

Ranking the Neil Young Albums from His First DecadeAuthor Daniel de Visé walks on through the first 10 studio albums (and one live album) that make up Neil Young's first Decade (more or less). Where does Harvest rank against Rust Never Sleeps? And how do relatively underground releases like Zuma and On The Beach fit in? Let's take a Journey Through the Past.

Finally, texts between Android and iPhone users can be end-to-end encryptedGoogle had urged Apple for years to support RCS texting to make communication between each company's devices more seamless.

A Song That Changed My Life: Friko on Frank Ocean, Cursive, Broken Social Scene and Kamasi WashingtonA Song or(four) that Changed My Life: Niko Kapetan: Frank Ocean’s “White Ferrari,” Bailey Minzenberger: Cursive’s “What Have I Done,” David Fuller: Broken Social Scene’s “Guilty Cubicles,” and Korgan Robb: Kamasi Washington’s “Truth.”

The Band Members: Niko Kapetan, lead vocals, guitar; Bailey Minzenberger, drums; David Fuller, bass guitar; Korgan Robb, guitar.

The Storytellers: Niko Kapetan, Bailey Minzenberger, David Fuller; bass, Korgan Robb.

The Songs: Stripped down and spectral, Frank Ocean’s layered vocal performance on his career-defining deep-cut “White Ferrari” rests above sparse soundscapes with a fragmented narrative that folds the listener into a free-flow state of winding introspection. Its experimental structure and haunting, minimalist production brought a unique form of alt-R&B to the mainstream, replacing the traditional quick-fix “hook” with lingering, emotional suspension.

Cursive's slow-burner “What Have I Done” utilizes still, echoing guitars that build toward a clamorous crescendo, where earnest vocals break and call out for an internal reckoning. The track’s unflinching way of presenting discontent and malaise serves as a poignant litmus test for the era, offering an additional tool within the post-hardcore arsenal — revealing how a voice can serve as a” cutter” just as much as a distorted, dissonant guitar chord.

Emotive artistry thrives within the sparse textures of Broken Social Scene’s ambient lo-fi instrumental “Guilty Cubicles.” Crafted with a soothing guitar set alongside a meditative rhythm, the track creates a hypnotic lull where audiophiles swim within a slipstream of nocturnal nostalgia. The melancholic mood-piece served as a foundational atmospheric statement for the indie underground, proving that moving storytelling could emerge purely through texture, repetition and sonic drift.Where Fuller found weight through minimalism, Robb discovered it through scale and accumulation. Kamasi Washington’s massive, complex jazz composition “Truth,” commissioned by the Whitney Museum and built around a two-chord vamp, improvisationally expands outward, creating an immense music mural. The climactic track, where five distinct melodies of the preceding movements converge into a Harmony of Difference, showcases how interweaving melodic lyrical threads can layer and converge to create a sonic suite of collective transcendence.

Though emerging from vastly different musical lineages and stylistic forms, each track constructs an immersive emotional world through texture, tonal depth, and atmospheric composition — a philosophy that closely mirrors Friko’s own approach to creating music.

The Background: Arising from Chicago’s Hallogallo DIY underground — a scene named after a track by the motorik Krautrock band Neu! and galvanized by a handmade fanzine of the same name — Friko began taking shape just prior to the 2020 lockdown. Originally formed by vocalist and guitarist Niko Kapetan and drummer Bailey Minzenberger, the band fine-tuned their expansive, indie-rock songwriting, ultimately demoing and self-recording what would become their breakout release, We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here.

As the world reopened and live music returned, Friko expanded into a quartet with the addition of bassist David Fuller and guitarist Korgan Robb, allowing the band’s cinematic tendencies to fully emerge, widening in scope and emotional depth. With the recent release of their sophomore album Something Woth Waiting For, the band further deepens these creative throughlines, pushing their expansive songwriting further by leaning into the power of patience. By treating atmosphere as architecture, Friko’s new music creates emotional  spaces where memory, abstraction, and nostalgic longing are held.

The Story: To understand Friko is to understand the emotional spaces they build from the music that shaped them.

Across four distinct listening experiences —ranging from deep-alt R&B to expansive jazz murals — a shared sonic language emerges. It is a language built on intense immersion. Each of these tracks arrives with its own sense of being.

Niko Kapetan’s entry point arrived in high school while driving late at night through the Midwestern highways between Chicago and Champaign-Urbana. In the maze of vast cornfields, Frank Ocean’s “White Ferrari” revealed its full weight. “I like the way the song stitched together,” Niko says. “The hip-hop and rap elements mixed with the indie elements... that’s what impacted me at first.” Beyond the genre-bending, it was the structural freedom that stuck. “I wanted to make music that wasn’t just a song in the classic sense. I wanted to lean into that sense of rambling vocals and the idea that a song could be very abstract.”

While Niko found power in fragmented narratives, Bailey Minzenberger found it in the heavy pull of emotional memory. Hearing Cursive’s “What Have I Done” in middle school, the song’s existential themes hit with premature, profound gravity.

“I’m holistically a big fan of melancholic music,” Minzenberger explains. “A piece of music doesn't necessarily have to be sad to feel melancholic. For me, melancholy is just feeling every edge of an emotion.” The track’s slow-burning arc and lead singer Tim Kasher’s frayed delivery provided an unintentional outline for Friko’s own cathartic crescendos. “The lyric ‘I spent the best years of my life waiting on the best years of my life’ is so potent. It captures that feeling of always chasing something just out of reach.”

For David Fuller, the formative moment was Broken Social Scene’s “Guilty Cubicles”— a three-minute ambient instrumental that appeared almost by accident while studying film. “It taught me that a band can be so much more than just a band with one sound; they can do anything they want,” Fuller says. That realization expanded to how he hears space today as a sonic open field. “It blew this whole door open. It’s a meditative song that has grown with me, or I’ve grown around it.”

Korgan Robb also found his throughline of pure instrumentalism in the expansive convergence of jazz. Kamasi Washington’s “Truth,” a thirteen-minute epic composition built on a simple two-chord vamp, showed him how five movements could interweave into one final song on Washington’s Harmony of Difference.

“I was really into bebop and trying to learn how to play jazz, and then this song comes along with a string section, horn section, and two drummers,” Robb recalls. “It helped me focus on what I love about jazz — how those layers are built. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.”

This same commitment to layering — the idea of stacking distinct emotional threads of varying until they accumulate into a complete world — is the philosophy that anchors Friko’s current work on Something Worth Waiting For. The new tracks draw elements from each band member’s emotive archive, creating a unified soundscape where Kapetan’s abstraction, Minzenberger’s catharsis, Fuller’s submerged textures, and Robb’s improvisational phrasing overlap into a singular atmospheric soundscape.

“On this record, we were exploring patience — not being afraid to sit in something,” Minzenberger summarizes. “Things don’t need to change constantly; it’s okay to just inhabit a moment. We’re pushing ourselves to sit in that space, just like the songs that changed us.”

Photo Credit: Adam PowellThe post A Song That Changed My Life: Friko on Frank Ocean, Cursive, Broken Social Scene and Kamasi Washington first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Price predictions 5/11: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, HYPE, ADABitcoin looks set for another blockbuster week, but potential resistance at $84,000 could complicate the rally. Will altcoin consolidation continue?

It’s a Water Clock, Jim, But Not as We Know It — It Has DigitsGuess what time it is– that’s right, clock time! It’s always clock time, and when it’s clock time at Hackaday the weirder the better. So, how about a water clock that’s not actually a water clock? The water here has nothing to do with timekeeping, but is what’s driving the display. Fair to say that [Strange Inventions] is living up to the name of his YouTube channel.
You can get the idea from the header image: each digit is formed by a fifteen-segment display made up of glass bottles. A stepper-driven peristaltic pump and some membrane-pump boosters fills the bottles as needed with dyed water, while emptying is accomplished simply by having a servo dump the water into a trough. It’s an interesting, albeit messy, way to generate a display.
It wasn’t the original idea– well, the bottles were the original concept, but flipping them was not. Dumping the bottles has the advantage of not needing oodles of pumps or taking five minutes to sequentially fill and drain the bottles at each digit. The linkage to get the servo to flip all nine bottles in one go took some troubleshooting– we can relate, since the physical half of such projects usually is the hard part– but after many modifications the 3D printed mechanism worked, and we think the results are worth it.
If you’re looking for the other kind of water clock, we featured one of those before, too. This one is also of ancient style, but makes use of modern electronics. It occurs to us that if one was really, really ambitious, they could expand this [Strange] project into a very damp flip-dot style display.