Could Ace Frehley Have Been a Stand-Up Comedian? Comic Don Jamieson States His CaseThat Metal Show co-host and stand-up comedian Don Jamieson espouses on the opinion that the Kiss guitarist could have cut it as a comedian in this excerpt from Greg Prato's book, "Talk to Me: Conversations With Ace Frehley."

NatLife Sounds Trance Memories for Synapse Audio ProximaNatLife Sounds presents Trance Memories for Synapse Audio Proxima. It is a unique soundbank currently available on the market, featuring 70 high-quality presets designed specifically for Synapse Audio Proxima. This collection is ideal for producers of Melodic Trance, Progressive Trance, and Uplifting Trance, providing ready-to-use sounds that save time on sound design. Included in the pack: Leads, pads, and atmospheres for melodic and harmonic layering. Basses for solid low-end support. Effects and textures to enhance transitions and overall sound design. This is a third-party soundbank for Proxima, a niche product with very few alternatives available. All presets are fully compatible with Synapse Audio Proxima and ready for immediate use in your projects. Soundbank created by Gianfranco Carone aka GC. Read More

Slow Ventures holds a ‘finishing school’ to help founders learn to be fancySlow Ventures hosted a three-hour “Etiquette Finishing School” this week, covering topics like the perfect handshake, public speaking, and office decorum.

2025 Component Abuse Challenge: Dawg Gone LED TesterThe Hackaday 2025 Component Abuse Challenge is all about abusing electronic components in the service of making them do things they were never intended to. It’s not the 2025 Food Abuse Challenge, so in the case of [Ian Dunn]’s hot dog pressed into service as an LED tester, we’ll take the ‘dawg to be a component in its own right. And by any measure, it’s being abused!
Cooking hot dogs by passing an electric current through them has a long and faintly hazardous history to it — we’re sure we’ve heard of domestic hot dog cooker appliances that are little more than the mains supply on a pin at each end of a hot dog shaped receptacle. This one takes the ‘dawg in a bun with condiments, no less, and sticks an ordinary table fork wired up to the grid in each end. The LED testing is the cherry on the cake, because he simply sticks a pile of LEDs by their pins into the tasty sausage. It forms a crude potential divider, so there’s about enough volts across the gap between pins to light it up nicely.
We like this project on so many levels, though we’re not sure what heavy metals would leach out of those LED pins into the meat. If it’s inspired you to do something similar you still have a few days in which to enter the contest, so break out your convenience food and a pile of parts, and start experimenting!

Pitch Innovations Sonic Atlas is a FREE instrument that takes you around the world
Pitch Innovations releases Sonic Atlas, a FREE sampled instrument that takes you around the world. We are used to Pitch Innovations being, well, innovative. The India-based developer is passionate about exploring new and creative ways to make beautiful music, and we’ve seen that with products like Groove Shaper and Fluid Chords 2. However, Sonic Atlas [...]
View post: Pitch Innovations Sonic Atlas is a FREE instrument that takes you around the world

SPL introduce the BiG [Studio] SPL’s latest release brings the circuitry employed in their BiG 500-series module to a 1U 19” rackmount unit, and takes advantage of the extra space by adding a new Tube Harmonics section. 

Kulshan Studios Crush Drum n Bass Soundset for Clavia Nord Lead 2 + 2X75 aggressive Drum n Bass presets, compatible with the Clavia Nord Lead 2 and 2X hardware synths. This soundbank is 100% DnB-oriented, which means no weird clangs, effects, drums, or bells. The patches in Crush were referenced against the latest tracks and employs all of the Nord's craziest mod and distortion offerings. So this soundset is designed to fully exploit the Nord Sound to its fullest potential. These patches are based on sounds by the likes of Pendulum, Andy C, Sub Focus, Spor, Modemellow, Pure Tone, Maduk, Spor, Maykors & Neekir, Messiah, Danny Byrd, Subrix, Motiv, Akasha, Johnny L, Netsky, and many many more. And to cap off the bank, some patches were set to INIT, so you have room to write and store your own patches without overwriting any existing sounds. Only 3rd party FX used in these sounds were Virus TI2 reverb and delay on leads, pads, and plucks. Sounds in this preset pack are suitable for the Jump Up Drum n Bass, Liquid Drum n Bass, and Atmospheric Drum n Bass 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: Clavia Nord Lead 2 or 2X synthesizer (and rack versions). Also compatible with DiscoDSP Discovery VSTi and The Usual Suspects Nodal Red 2X. Read More

Camera Capabilities Unlocked from a MouseThere is a point where taking technology for granted hides some of the incredible capabilities of seemingly simple devices. Optical mice are a great example of this principle, using what are more or less entirely self-contained cameras just for moving the cursor across your screen. Don’t believe us? Check out this camera made from an old optical mouse from [Dycus]!
For those unfamiliar with optical mice, the sensor used for tracking movement, like a camera, is just an array of photosensitive sensors. This allows a simple on-board microcontroller to convert the small changes from the visual sensor into acceleration/movement information to be sent to the computer.
Proving how capable these sensors can truly be, [Dycus]’s camera manages a whole 30×30 array of picture quality. Along with glorious greyscale, the pictures achieved from such a camera are more than recognizable. Putting together the camera didn’t even require anything crazy beyond the sensor itself. What appears to be a Teensy LC board, basic buttons, and a small screen are essentially everything required to replicate the camera’s functionality. Pictures, both standard and “panoramic”, can be viewed in a variety of color palettes stored on board. Along with a surprisingly impressive feature set, the idea is impressive.
Limitations are often the mother of innovation, no matter if self-imposed or not, as seen here. However, [Dycus] still had a whole 30×30 array to photograph. What about a single pixel? Let’s make it even harder; we can’t look directly at the subject! This is exactly what was done here in this impressive demonstration of clever engineering.
Thanks to JohnU and Thinkerer for the tip!

CZ says he was surprised by pardon, denies ties to the Trump familyBinance co-founder CZ pushed back against allegations that his pardon was motivated by close ties or business deals with the Trump family.

Is Wall Street losing faith in AI?A rough week for tech stocks might signal a loss of investor confidence in artificial intelligence.

Get an Ampeg Bass Amp and 2 Bass Pedals FREE for AmpliTube 5 CS in November
IK Multimedia has given low-end enthusiasts an early Christmas present in the form of four bass guitar giveaways for AmpliTube 5 CS users in November. AmpliTube 5 CS is IK’s free guitar and bass workstation, exclusive to 64-bit systems for macOS and Windows.  The November giveaway features the SVX-500 bass amp, matching 2×10 SVX-500 cab, [...]
View post: Get an Ampeg Bass Amp and 2 Bass Pedals FREE for AmpliTube 5 CS in November

Sequential update Take 5 OS Available as a free download from the company’s website, the latest version of the Take 5's OS introduces a new Poly Chain function along with 10 new play modes for the built-in arpeggiator. 

Oberheim TEO-5 updated The latest software update for the TEO-5 sees it gain the same Poly Chain function and arpeggiator updates that have been introduced to the Sequential Take 5.

Rico Nasty Gets Gnarly at the FondaEighty percent of the best new rappers of the last decade have been female. After years and years of misogyny in the music industry that, lets be clear, does still exist, it does at least seem to have gotten through to some of the people at the top of the industry tree that, hey, if there's more than one female rapper in the charts at the same time, the world won't implode.

So, beefs aside, we have Cardi and Nicki, Megan and Doja. Bubbling under, we have a lot more strong, talented women ready to make the break into arena-level shows. Saweetie, Ice Spice, Doechii, Coi Leray, Kash Doll... the list goes on and on. And let's get this right: If Rico Nasty isn't headlining the Kia Forum in two years MAXIMUM, then something's wrong with the world.

She's got it all. Rico Nasty's rhymes are incisive, intelligent and, in the very best possible way, cutting. Her delivery is rapid-fire and, most importantly, very much her own. There's a little snarl in there, that bit of nasty, which is partially why she's so attractive to the contemporary punk crowd. That, and she performs on stage with a live guitarist as well as her DJ.

She's a consummate show-woman. She holds the crowd at the Fonda, Hollywood in the palm of her hand which, given the length of her nails, is a precarious but elevated position to be in.

And then there are her songs which are either gloriously memorable or rabble-rousingly anthemic. Oftentimes, they're both.

Weighing it at about 40 songs, her setlist at the Fonda was lengthy but didn't outstay its welcome by one microsecond.

"WHO WANT IT" and "EAT ME!" gets the crowd yelling along early, and there are some awesome choices of covers (Doechii's "Swamp B*tches" and Doja Cat's "Tia Tamera"). The set flies by, one killer tune after the other. Teezo Touchdown and Molly Santana join Ms. Nasty at various points, and Paramore's Hayley Williams gets up to help her with "Smack a B*tch," increasing the scream volume.

Towards the end, we get set highlight "TEETHSUCKER" and "Son of a Gun," but in truth the set was packed with highlights. Rico Nasty is the real deal--make her huge!

Photo credit: Emily Eizen, @emilyeizenThe post Rico Nasty Gets Gnarly at the Fonda first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Get a free violin synth for Splice INSTRUMENT
Download our free violin preset for Splice INSTRUMENT—grab these presets during the drop window and they’re yours to keep forever.