Hakuna Audio releases FREE Hakunizer one-knob enhancer plugin
Hakuna Audio has released Hakunizer, a free one-knob enhancer plugin for macOS and Windows. The workflow immediately reminded me of Image-Line’s old Soundgoodizer. Just like in FL Studio’s old multiband sound enhancer, you choose one of four programs labeled A, B, C, and D, then turn a single large knob until the result sounds good. [...]
View post: Hakuna Audio releases FREE Hakunizer one-knob enhancer plugin

Trump says US will form ‘AI Force’ and appoint AI czar: ReportsTrump posted on Truth Social that his new project would manage the fast-growing sector without adding regulations that could slow innovation.

ModeAudio Quiet Piano Ambient Loops: Cinematic upright piano samples
ModeAudio has released the Quiet Piano Ambient Loops, a collection of 833MB worth of royalty-free music loops and MIDI.  The piano is arguably the most versatile instrument; a single performance can be percussive, rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic all at once, with as much polyphony as your fingers can manage. But despite having all that potential [...]
View post: ModeAudio Quiet Piano Ambient Loops: Cinematic upright piano samples

Casio Sessions returns for 2026 Casio have officially revealed the list of 16 finalists who have earned their place in this year’s Casio Sessions competition.

Flock reportedly tries to shrink workforce with employee buyoutsWithout buyouts, Flock would "almost certainly" need to lay off staff.

Coreboot Hikes the Bay Trail to DRAM InitializationThis article is written on an open-source operating system, but not an open-source machine — the BIOS isn’t open-source, and even if it were supported by the coreboot project (formerly LinuxBIOS), there would still be a whole host of binary blobs required to get it to boot. On one vintage architecture, there’s one less blob, as coreboot can now initialize DRAM on Intel Bay Trail SOCs, as [Mate Kukri] presented in a talk at the recent Open Source Firmware Conference.
Bay Trail isn’t exactly cutting-edge hardware, to be sure — the SoCs are over a decade old at this point, and were only used in low-performance mobile applications like Chromebooks. On the other hand, coreboot has been on Chromebooks for at least as long. Getting DRAM set up is difficult because, well, you don’t have any memory to work with until you do. Traditionally, the way you did that was to call on one of the many proprietary ‘binary blobs’ provided with next to no documentation by the manufacturer. Reverse engineering that requires some serious bus-sluthing, which was done in software with the SerialICE debugger and the Unicorn Engine CPU emulator. The talk focused on that technique and how it might be applied more widely, rather than getting into the weeds of how to do DRAM init on one obsolete SOC. At some point the whole thing should be archived on the OFSC website so those of us not lucky enough to attend in person can hear what [Mate] — and all the other speakers — had to say.

Because coreboot is open, you can do a lot more with it than a proprietary UEFI firmware — for example, you can choose not to initialize RAM at all, and run entirely in the CPU’s cache. You can also — of course — run DOOM. If you want to be binary-blob-free, you’ll need to find hardware supported by the more hardcore Libreboot distribution of coreboot, which admits no binary blobs at all. When it comes to Libreboot, it might actually be easier to install than to find compatible hardware these days.

REX launches 2x leveraged ETF tied to Bitcoin treasury firm StriveThe new ASSX fund offers 2x daily exposure to Strive shares, giving traders a leveraged way to bet on the Bitcoin treasury company.

Tips From A Deathrock Lifer: Scarlet's Remains' Tony HavocWe asked Scarlet’s Remains drummer Tony Havoc to share advice for fellow musicians from his extensive experience as a member of multiple beloved LA deathrock acts. Havoc has been a fixture on the global deathrock scene for decades. Renowned for his powerful “tribal” drumming and striking, ghoulish image, he has also played for Voodoo Church, The Dirty Horror, and Fear Cult, among many others. 

But Scarlet’s Remains is Havoc’s proudest achievement, having released two genre-classic albums in the 2000s, toured Europe, and recently reformed with a vibrant new lineup. With Havoc not only drumming but also being principal songwriter and de facto bandleader, the female-fronted quartet has been performing on the West Coast and in Mexico since earlier this year and is currently recording a new full-length.

Practice & Pump

Havoc originally aspired to be a guitarist, until his dad suggested, “Everybody plays guitar – why don’t you get into the drums?” He fell in love with drumming and would frequently skip school to practice in the family home by day. He cites diverse influences including Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, Wullie Buchan of The Exploited (especially on the Horror Epics album), and even Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee. 

“I like [Lee’s] showmanship. I don’t do any of that, but I appreciate it,” Havoc explains. “I like being in the back and sitting behind cymbals – I’m not an upfront, limelight type.” 

These days, Havoc is restricted to keeping his chops up on a practice pad at home and the one night a week that Scarlet’s Remains have at a Downtown LA practice space shared with multiple other bands. So, he takes another approach to maintaining his strength and stamina for the band’s frenetic live shows.

“It’s very good for a drummer to lift weights,” he offers. “You don’t need to be buffed and huge, but just to keep up the strength, because you don’t get to play your instrument every day the way a guitarist or bassist can.”

Do It Yourself Deathrock

“There’s a Minor Threat song that says ‘Make do with what you have / Take what you can get,’ and that really stuck with me,” Havoc recalls. “Because you can do it yourself. You don’t need anybody else. If you’ve got someone with money backing you, it’s a lot easier, but it can be done.”

True to this ethos, Havoc has learned to approach venues and promoters with a “package” of three or four bands already lined up, a particular night of the week in mind, and with an idea of the likely draw and the cover charge required for everyone to walk away happy. Upon first moving to L.A., he strolled into the famed Troubadour and did exactly that.

“When you approach a venue with a pre-made lineup, they don’t have to do anything except open their doors,” Havoc explains. “I think they appreciate that.”

Adapt & Survive

Like most semi-pro drummers, Havoc seldom gets to use his own kit on stage. Typically, he’s making do with a backlined kit provided by the venue, promoter, or one of the other bands on the bill. It’s a reality that Havoc is amazingly sanguine about, once again leaning into his “make do with what you have” punk ethic.

“I’ve played with cracked cymbals and cracked heads – I’ve kind of just gotten used to whatever’s thrown my way,” he says. “It takes about three songs to get used to a ‘foreign’ kit, but everyone’s warming up the first three songs, anyway.”

Typically, Havoc will bring his own kick pedal, cymbals (which venues often don’t supply), and an extra rack tom. “I’m a kind of ‘80s style drummer; I like two high toms,” he explains. “And the kits today usually just have one.”

When Havoc does get to play his own kit, it’s a Spaun set-up comprising a 22-inch kick, 12- and 13-inch rack toms, and a 16-inch floor tom (“I spend a lot of time on toms”). After years of choosing Zildjian cymbals, he now prefers Sabians simply for their sound. (Spaun Drums is a small Colorado-based company that manufactures all its products in the U.S.)

Dark Genre Realities

Havoc’s gateway to deathrock was the punk rock he first encountered as a teen, which has shaped his entire worldview and lifestyle ever since.

“I was raised by punk rock,” he mulls. “All my ideals, all my thoughts, my emotions – everything was learned through punk.” But there came a time when Havoc started encountering increasing racism, sexism, and homophobia in a punk scene that had been infiltrated by skinheads. Once he picked up a Christian Death record, he was sold on deathrock – an amalgam of punk, goth, and glam influences – as an adjacent alternative.

“In the deathrock scene, everybody was welcome. And I really, really like the idea behind that,” Havoc recalls. “Deathrock just seemed very wide open and there was so much you could do with it. Punk rock started to seem a little in a box.”

But, like any niche genre, deathrock is much more about passion than profit, and Havoc advises fellow subgenre musicians to be realistic about commercial aspirations. “If you’re going to do pop music, I mean you’re doing that strictly for the money. I get it,” he says. “But when you do a genre like deathrock, you’re doing it because it’s the music that comes out of your soul and it’s what you love to do.”

Havoc describes L.A.’s deathrock scene as much smaller than it was during Scarlet’s Remains’ original 2000s run, meaning sparse local crowds and scant revenue. (By contrast, the band experienced sold-out pandemonium at a recent show in Mexico City). But although he’s the band’s sole original member and wrote the bulk of its existing material, he splits everything equally with his bandmates, who also contribute funds evenly when required.

“What I get out of it is just for my soul, my brain, and my heart. That’s payment enough,” Havoc concludes. “Being in a room with three other people, when the music’s tight and everybody’s on and it’s connecting, that’s a really magical feeling that you just can’t get anywhere else.”

instagram.com/scarlets_remains_official

The post Tips From A Deathrock Lifer: Scarlet's Remains' Tony Havoc first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Boof2015 PrismPrism is a free, open-source audio analyzer and meter rack for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It can monitor system audio or an input device from the standalone desktop application, run individual analyzers as plugins inside a DAW, or provide the same core analysis tools through a native terminal interface. The desktop application captures system output directly through CoreAudio on macOS, WASAPI on Windows, and PulseAudio on Linux. Microphones, audio interfaces, and other input devices can also be selected directly. Multichannel sources can be routed into Prism's Left and Right analysis channels independently. Analyzers Prism includes eight real-time scopes and meters: Spectrum Analyzer — FFT spectrum with calibrated dBFS levels, selectable FFT sizes, spectral tilt, Log/Mel/Linear frequency scales, peak and pitch readouts, and optional heatmap and fill views. Oscilloscope — Time-domain waveform with fundamental-frequency pitch locking and sub-sample triggering. Vectorscope — Stereo phase and spatial analysis with XY, Polar, and M/S Linear views, correlation information, adjustable zoom, and optional multiband visualization. Waterfall — Layered spectrum history with configurable history length, density, frequency scale, and level-based or theme-based coloring. Spectrogram — Frequency-over-time analysis with Log, Mel, and Linear scales, stereo-energy analysis, and optional frequency reassignment modes. VU Meter — Adjustable-reference VU metering with stereo correlation and needle or bar displays. Loudness Meter — Momentary, short-term, and integrated LUFS metering with true-peak measurement. Waveform — Scrolling mono or stereo waveform with transient-preserving sampling and optional multiband energy display. Scopes can be resized and rearranged into a rack, placed into separate windows, rotated where supported, or pinned above other applications. Spectrum, Spectrogram, Oscilloscope, and Waveform also provide interactive measurement overlays, with optional linked guides between compatible scopes. Reference tracks and rolling capture The Spectrum Analyzer can analyze a WAV, AIFF, FLAC, or MP3 file and display it as a reference curve. Reference tracks can be viewed as an overlay or as a difference from the current signal, with adjustable reference level and level matching. Rolling Capture can continuously retain the previous 5, 10, 30, or 60 seconds of audio. Buffered audio can be dragged out of Prism as a WAV file without starting a recording beforehand, with 16-bit PCM and 32-bit floating-point export available. DAW plugins Each Prism analyzer is also available as a DAW plugin: VST3 and CLAP on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Audio Unit on macOS. Mono and stereo host layouts. Plugin settings stored with the DAW project. Pass-through audio processing; the analyzers do not modify the host audio. Prism Bridge is also included for sending a track or bus from a DAW to the standalone Prism application. Multiple Bridge instances can be loaded in a project, with the source selected from Prism's audio input menu. Profiles, themes, and terminal interface Profiles store the current scope layout, individual analyzer settings, and window state, and can be saved and shared as .prsm files. The interface can be customized with .iro themes. Themes are shared between the desktop application, plugins, and terminal interface where applicable, and Prism includes options intended for transparent or chroma-keyed overlays. prism-tui provides a native terminal interface using the same analysis and system-capture implementations, including Spectrum, Oscilloscope, Vectorscope, Waterfall, Spectrogram, VU, Loudness, and Waveform monitoring. Prism is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. Read More

Get UnitedPlugins FireMaximizer FREE until October 18
UnitedPlugins is offering FireMaximizer for free until October 18, 2026, as part of a collaboration with the Japanese シユウの作曲・DTM講座 channel. Add the plugin to your cart, then enter the coupon code SiyuFMX100 at checkout to reduce the price to zero. FireMaximizer is currently listed at $137 in the UnitedPlugins store. The collaboration video also covers [...]
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ART Pro Audio reveal the RPC Series Yorkville Sound have announce the upcoming launch of three new RPC rackmount power conditioners from ART Pro Audio.

MRT audio Mrtaudio USB MIDI Breath Controller MRTAUDIO STANDARD · COMPLETE SET. Turn breath into musical control MRTAUDIO Standard converts breath pressure into MIDI control data for shaping dynamics, timbre and articulation in compatible instruments and software. Keep both hands on the instrument while breath becomes part of the performance. One breath, three independent MIDI layers Route one breath input to as many as three independent MIDI destinations. Each layer has its own MIDI target, channel, input/output range, response curve and Attack/Release behavior. Expression, Modulation, Breath, Volume and other compatible MIDI targets. Three onboard presets identified by Green, Amber and Red LEDs. Guided calibration and automatic resting-baseline management. MRTAUDIO Web Configurator in a compatible browser. From studio to stage USB-C provides 5 V power and class-compliant USB MIDI with compatible hosts. For hardware MIDI, use the 3.5 mm TRS MIDI Type A output and the included cable terminating in a male 5-pin DIN connector. Settings are stored in the controller, so the browser does not need to remain open during normal performance. Complete set contents 1 x MRTAUDIO Standard USB MIDI controller unit. 1 x MRTAUDIO Breath Headset headband and sensor body. 1 x flexible air tube with threaded connector. 2 x removable mouthpieces; one primary and one spare. 1 x 3.5 mm TRS MIDI Type A to male 5-pin DIN MIDI cable. 1 x USB Type-C data/power cable. Important: MRTAUDIO is a MIDI controller. It does not generate or record sound and it is not a microphone. A compatible MIDI instrument, software application or host is required. Mobile use may require a suitable adapter, adequate power and a MIDI-compatible app. Read More

Anthropic’s first embedded evaluator is … Accenture?Accenture is about to take on its most high-risk consulting engagement ever.

Assignments: Torben Müller at CelestionBusiness Development Manager

Celestion

Celestion has announced the appointment of Torben Müller to the position of Business Development Manager. Müller’s primary focus will be  identifying, exploring, and developing new opportunities for growth alongside Celestion’s valued customers and partners.

He is also responsible for serving many of Celestion’s international distributors, plus several key OEMs across pro audio and guitar.

“I look forward to being part of a devoted and dedicated team, meeting and working with our great partners and customers, and contributing to strengthening and growing the Celestion brand,” said Müller.

For more, contact john.paice@celestion.com.The post Assignments: Torben Müller at Celestion first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Making a Digital Music Player for Cassette DecksIn the cross-over between the era of tapes into that of MP3s, you’d see quite a few of those special cassette tapes that were actually digital music players inside. Some simply provided a 3.5 mm input, while others were complete MP3 players or Bluetooth receivers that just happened to also output to the magnetic read head of a cassette player. Recently [Jonathan Rowny] decided to make his own version of the latter.
Although getting the actual audio signal into the read head is easy enough – requiring little more than its equivalent being used as a write head on the cassette side – actually interfacing with the player’s mechanisms like auto-stop, reverse and so on requires the use of some gearing that detect motion on what would be the tape spools, as well as transfer the motion from the take-up spool to the other spool so that features like the auto-stop mechanism don’t get triggered.
A lot of inspiration here can be found in e.g. the videos made by [Clint] of [Lazy Game Reviews] who looked at a number of examples – including their internals – over the years, with various levels of functionality. For this particular implementation an ESP32-S3 module is used for the brains, along with a microSD card reader for music and a PCM5102 I2S audio codec to create the analog audio signal.
The gears were printed using an SLA printer and seem to work all right. Unfortunately he didn’t realize the importance of the capstan as the mechanism that actually transports the tape, so its motion was not measured as is done in the better cassette adapters. This will likely be corrected in a future iteration, however.