Build a Stranger Things Wall You Can Freak Out At In Your Own HomeWhen Stranger Things premiered in 2016, it was a cultural force. Foreign DJs gushed over the lush 80s soundtrack, fashionistas loved the clothing, and the world became obsessed with the idea of using Christmas lights to communicate across material planes. [kyjohnso] has recreated that experience with the technology of today.
If you haven’t watched the show — Joyce Byers is trying to communicate with her son Will, who just so happens to be stuck in another plane of existence called the Upside Down. She screams questions at her living room wall, upon which hangs a series of Christmas lights, marked with the letters A to Z. Will is able to communicate back by causing the lights to flash, one letter at a time.
This build works a little differently. You basically type a message into a terminal on a Raspberry Pi, and it gets sent to a large language model—namely, the Claude API. The response from Claude (or Will Byers, if you’re imagining) is then flashed out on a WS2812B set of LED Christmas lights on the wall. [kyjohnso] added dramatic pauses whenever there’s a space in the output, somewhat replicating the dramatic elements of the show itself. Files are on GitHub for the spooky and curious.
It’s a neat build that would be a hit at any Halloween party. We can’t imagine how much more immersive it would be if paired with a speech-to-text engine so you could actually scream at the thing like a distraught Midwestern parent who has just lost her youngest child. It’s all about committing to the bit; if you build such a thing, don’t hesitate to notify the tipsline!

Gretsch unveil Abbey Road RS201 Studiomatic Designed specifically for recording, the Abbey Road RS201 Studiomatic directly incorporates some of Abbey Road’s own technology in its signal path, boasting a built-in circuit that’s based on the RS 97 Rumble Filter — a technology designed by the EMI team 1950s that served to remove low-frequency and mechanical vibrations from recordings.

black-sided sun Chromatography'Chromatography' is the presets pack for Cherry Audio Rhodes Chroma software synthesizer. The demo features several instances of Chroma. Other than a master bus limiter (ReaLimit from Cockos Reaper) no external effects are used. https://youtu.be/TBafyAGAnU0 Rhodes Chroma was a seminal instrument from early 1980s developed by ARP shortly before their demise. The design was purchased by CBS Musical Instruments and put into production by their Rhodes Division in 1982 - already as the Rhodes Chroma. A keyboardless version was produced as well, called Chroma Expander. For its time it was an extremely advanced, polyphonic and multitimbral instrument with velocity-sensitive keyboard. It also sported microprocessor at its core, and could be connected to a computer - an interface card was available for Apple IIe along with sequencing software. Only 1400-3000 Chromas and Expanders were built at all, as their production ceased by 1985, and it's safe to assume that far fewer have made it into 2020s. Thankfully, Cherry Audio has reproduced it in software with all the original features, and then some. The first impression is that it has a fairly non-conventional architecture, compared to other VA synths. But it is mostly due to a non-standard naming (like 'sweep' which is in fact 'LFO'), and a wide array of signal routing modes. 'Chromatography' presets are built from scratch or from each other. To load these presets into the synthesizer, unzip the archive contents into Chroma's Presets folder. For Windows 10/11 users it is C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\CherryAudio\Chroma\Presets. ...And have some Chromatic fun. Read More

Spotify acquires song sample and remix database WhoSampledWhoSampled says it will continue operating as a standalone app even as its data is integrated into Spotify
Source

The Best Gig I Ever Saw: Alana Hil Digs the Grateful DeadSoulful, independent artist Alana Hil told us about her Grateful Dead celebration experience...

Alana Hil: My favorite concert experience by far happened at Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead in Chicago — and not just one night, but all three. I did the full run, because in the jam band world, every show is different: no setlist is ever repeated, every moment holds new possibilities. In college, I was pulled into that festival, psychedelic, community-minded realm, and the first time I heard the Dead, I felt something physical in the sound — like I could almost touch it as it poured out of the speaker. Getting to see the surviving members together for a final time was more than nostalgia; it was witnessing a chapter of musical history close in real time.

There’s something spiritual about those shows. The culture surrounding the Grateful Dead goes beyond music — it’s about connection, about collective energy. I joined in fully, letting myself be swept up in the love, the improvisation, the crowd dancing and singing to one another, even those who didn’t know one another. That experience taught me something about freedom: how music can be a kind of home. I ended up living that freedom in real life for years—traveling in vans, living in teepees, other countries, following the music—because those nights revealed to me that belonging doesn’t always look like what people expect.

It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t felt it, but those three nights transformed me. The improvisation, the trust between musicians, and the way the audience completely breathed with the band… I shed many tears. That show wasn’t just the best I’ve ever seen — it was the one that reshaped what I thought a concert could be. “Fare thee well, Fare thee well, I love you more than words can tell. Listen to the river sing sweet songs that rock my soul.”

Alana Hil's Diaries of a Common Woman EP is out now.

Photo by Printz Board

The post The Best Gig I Ever Saw: Alana Hil Digs the Grateful Dead first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Sonixinema releases Piano Evolutions upright piano for Kontakt (Intro Price)
Sonixinema has released Piano Evolutions, a deeply expressive upright piano library for the full version of Kontakt 8.1+. This one immediately grabbed my attention because Sonixinema consistently releases some of the finest free Kontakt libraries on the market (for example, the recent Celestial Voices and Ethereal Pads). So, I knew that this wasn’t just another [...]
View post: Sonixinema releases Piano Evolutions upright piano for Kontakt (Intro Price)

AI music generator Suno raises $250M in latest funding roundAI music generation platform Suno has just raised $250 million in a Series C funding round at a $2.45 billion post-money valuation, the company reports.
The funding round – led by Menlo Ventures with participation from NVentures (Nvidia’s venture capital arm), as well as Hallwood Media, Lightspeed and Matrix – will accelerate the development of Suno’s “full-stack music ecosystem, model, workstation, artist tools and community”.

READ MORE: How I turned my DAW into an improv partner while producing my jazz album

The latest funding round follows a series of moves by Suno aimed at “redefining what’s possible in music creation”. In September, the company launches the “first-ever” generative audio workstation, Suno Studio, which pairs professional-grade multi-track editing with AI stem generation.
In the leadup to the launch of Suno Studio, the platform acquired WavTool, the first browser-based DAW. The move saw Suno adopting WavTool’s browser-based functionality, allowing it to repurpose the technology for its Suno Studio DAW.
“We’re seeing the future of music take shape in real time,” says Mikey Shulman, Co-Founder and CEO of Suno. “In just two years, we’ve seen millions of people make their ideas a reality through Suno, from first-time creators to top songwriters and producers integrating the tool into their daily workflows. This funding allows us to keep expanding what’s possible, empowering more artists to experiment, collaborate, and build on their creativity. We’re proud to be at the forefront of this historic moment for music.”
“Suno is the world’s #1 music creation app, making music accessible to everyone. Mikey and the team have built something people genuinely love using and millions of fans are on the platform every day, creating original songs and sharing them with friends,” says Amy Martin, Partner, Menlo Ventures.
You can read more about Suno’s latest funding round in a blog post entitled ‘The Future of Music is Already Here’.
The post AI music generator Suno raises $250M in latest funding round appeared first on MusicTech.

Spotify Rolls Out New Features to Spotlight More Creators Behind the SongSpotify's new "Expanded Credits," "SongDNA," and "About the Song" features aim to highlight behind-the-scenes creators.
The post Spotify Rolls Out New Features to Spotlight More Creators Behind the Song appeared first on Hypebot.

Comebacks and Reunions: Nostalgia Takes the Stage in 2026The Guess Who is finally reuniting for an all-Canadian tour in 2026, but that's not the only big ticket get-together involving some of our more familiar acts...
The post Comebacks and Reunions: Nostalgia Takes the Stage in 2026 appeared first on Hypebot.

ASM puts the power of its widely renowned Hydrasynth in new Diosynth wind synthesizerAshun Sound Machines (ASM) has launched a new wind synthesizer, and it features a sound engine based on its widely loved Hydrasynth.
The Diosynth is described as a highly expressive wind synth that combines a deep synthesis engine with a sample playback engine, to blend the best of acoustic and electronic sounds. It’s been designed with wind players in mind, featuring mechanical keys that replicate the feel of real sax and wind instruments.

READ MORE: The SDS-3 was the predecessor of the world’s first fully electronic drum kit – Behringer has just launched its own version

The Diosynth also has multiple fingering modes, scale/key locking, and octave keys covering over eight octaves to provide a familiar playing experience. Its Hydrasynth-influenced sound engine works in tandem the addition of a sample playback oscillator for creative sound design.
Users can blend realistic acoustic instruments, such as a Harmon-muted trumpet or Peruvian bamboo flute, with Hydrasynth’s wavescan oscillators, all processed through a 16-mode filter for hybrid tones. It can also layer or split two sounds at once, combining four Hydrasynth oscillators and two sample-based voices for highly expressive patches.
ASM has sampled 128 reed, brass, fipple, and string-based sounds for this new launch, including rare instruments such as the contrabass flute, Eb Tubax, and Peruvian llama whistle. It also hosts 384 factory patches and 768 total patch locations.
For more expressive play, Diosynth includes breath and bite sensors, an internal gyro, X/Y joystick, two pressure pads, and three programmable switches. Hear it in action in the video below, featuring composer/producer and M83 member, Joe Berry:

Connectivity for the Diosynth includes a ¼” stereo output and ⅛” headphone jack, both with dedicated volume controls, plus MIDI DIN In/Out, USB MIDI & Audio In/Out, Bluetooth MIDI In/Out, and Bluetooth audio-in for playing along with music.
Shipping for the Diosynth will commence in December. It is priced at $1,349 / £1,249. To find out more, head over to Ashun Sound Machines.
The post ASM puts the power of its widely renowned Hydrasynth in new Diosynth wind synthesizer appeared first on MusicTech.

Get over 50% off the u-he Diva virtual analog synth at Plugin Boutique until December 3rd
Despite being well over a decade old, u-he’s Diva is still considered by many to be one of the best and most convincing virtual analog synths available. And for a limited time, you can get it for over 50% off at Plugin Boutique. Plugin Boutique is currently offering a 52% discount on Diva, which means [...]
View post: Get over 50% off the u-he Diva virtual analog synth at Plugin Boutique until December 3rd

£5.7m per year in royalties from music played in UK clubs is being misallocated, report claimsA new report has claimed that only 28 percent of the fees paid out by the average UK nightclub are being distributed correctly to the artists whose music it plays.
The study, conducted by Fair Play, alleges that nearly two-thirds of nightclub performances fail to generate accurate royalty payments to the rightful creators. It claims that for a typical medium nightclub paying £20,000 annually in licence fees, only £5,688 (28.4 percent) reaches the correct creators.
It also alleges that administrative costs consume £4,200 (21 percent), whilst £10,112 (50.6 percent) is misallocated through attribution gaps, which is a 71.6 percent loss before reaching intended recipients.

READ MORE: Original Loopmasters founder Matt Pelling buys company back from Beatport: “Loopmasters has always been in the inspiration business”

To conduct its research, Fair Play engaged with stakeholders across the UK electronic music royalty ecosystem during a six-month period. While a handful of stakeholders contributed valuable insights, it says that “obtaining comprehensive operational data from certain established entities proved challenging”.
The report relies on publicly available information, stakeholder interviews, Fair Play’s operational experience, and reasonable extrapolations from partial data. As a result of its research, Fair Play has outlined key recommendations for stakeholders to improve this disparity.
It suggests that artists and DJs should consider registering with a rights organisation, and that the latter should submit their set lists through available platforms. It also encourages venues and promoters to adopt available music recognition technologies (MRT), and calls on collection societies to increase transparency around attribution methods.
The use of MRT, or the act of DJs simply submitting their set lists to collection platforms, is the most successful way to ensure royalties land in the right pockets. As The Guardian reports, when detailed tracklist information doesn’t exist for a given DJ set, rights organisations will instead extrapolate from the data produced by other venues, send staff to conduct in-person spot checks, or use radio playlists as a proxy.
PRS for Music, the largest performing rights society in the UK, has shared its scepticism of Fair Play’s findings, claiming that its “headline percentage is built on partial inputs”. It does, however, seemingly agree that the core problem lies in the lack of data from venues and DJs about the music they’re playing.
You can download the full report via Fair Play, or  find out more about PRS for Music and how it works.
The post £5.7m per year in royalties from music played in UK clubs is being misallocated, report claims appeared first on MusicTech.

Distortion Filter D312A from Great Eastern FX The Distortion Filter D312A is a hard-clipping distortion pedal that draws its inspiration from classic circuits like the MXR Distortion+ and DOD Overdrive Preamp 250, and interestingly, features a band-pass filter that can be used to shape its sound.

Grab any of these $5 deals to claim IK Multimedia MixBox for FREE
We already covered one of the best Black Friday deals on Plugin Boutique right now: you can get the full version of MixBox for free with any eligible purchase. I did the research, and the cheapest entry point is just $5 (so I listed all of those plugins below). If you’ve been waiting for the [...]
View post: Grab any of these $5 deals to claim IK Multimedia MixBox for FREE

We called this “almost the only EQ you’ll ever need” – and it’s 25% off right now at Plugin BoutiqueBlack Friday is right around the corner, and over at Plugin Boutique, you can grab 25% off a bunch of top FabFilter plugins.
The deals span across a slew of different plugins, including FabFilter’s Pro-Q 4. We called the EQ tool one of the “only EQs you’ll ever need”, offering a gold-standard slew of workflow improvements, as well as dynamic processing controls and brilliant analogue modelling. Now you can add it to your tool belt for just £112.

READ MORE: BandLab’s Membership drops to its lowest price ever for Black Friday

Elsewhere, Saturn 2 has also dropped down from £109 to £82. The high-quality distortion plugin is rammed with tools to add colour to your tracks, inspired by vintage amps, tapes and transformers. Its multiband design allows you to tweak distortion and saturation levels with gusto, while also offering ample amp-style simulations and a slew of on-board effects. Whether you’re after something subtle, or wanting to inject a harsher, grittier edge, this one’s for you.
If you’re interested in a new multiband dynamics processor, Pro-MB is also included in FabFilter’s Black Friday sale. Now available for just £112, you can take advantage of the plugin’s intuitive compression and expansion abilities – we even gave it a shining 10/10, so you can trust this plugin offers plenty of bang for your buck.
Modulation-wise, Timeless 3’s versatile vintage-inspired tape delay, effects and filters are also available for just £83, rather than its usual £109. Pro-L 2’s handy gain control and peak limiting abilities are also available for the lowered price of £112.
Can’t make your mind up? Well, you can also take advantage of a discounted bundle deal. Both the Essentials Bundle (which includes Pro-Q 4, Pro-C 2 and Pro-R 2) and the Mastering Bundle (which includes Pro-MB, Pro-Q 4, Pro-C 2, Pro-L 2) have dropped in price. The Essentials Bundle costs a cool £225, rather than its usual £299, while the Mastering Bundle has dropped from £379 down to £285.
You’ve got until 1 December to snap up these deals, so don’t waste any time… Click the button below to check out all the FabFilter plugins currently on offer at Plugin Boutique.
[deals ids=”33UMGRhvnRETi3XOZjkB9x”]

The post We called this “almost the only EQ you’ll ever need” – and it’s 25% off right now at Plugin Boutique appeared first on MusicTech.