Sting 2, Iftah’s follow-up to the acid-generating Max for Live device, is packed with new features like accessibility and Push support. But that’s not the best way to describe it. It works on acid. It works on melodies. It works on percussion. You may wind up smiling as much as its UI is. Imagine a one-click source of pure joy.

The uneasy relationship between cultural spaces, states, private funding, and artists has spawned widespread outcry and boycotts this year. That’s a good reason to turn your eyes to Wrocław, Poland, where activists have criticized a festival with a financial giant right in its name. BNP Paribas Nowe Horyzonty, an international film festival that also features musical acts like Kangding Ray, Mo Ayoub, and soft, stands accused of ties to genocide through its lead sponsor.

Heat waves are crossing Europe; stress is rising planetwide. Sudanese artist Zaher Nasr, aka Taz Waves, has an alternative. Inspired by time in Amman, Jannah Al Yasmeen (Jasmine Heaven) is as sweet and calming as its namesake.

Fugue Machine Rubato is an advanced sequencer capable of spawning elaborate, shifting patterns. Drum Trigs are a new addition to Fugue Machine that allows you to weave drum hits into your melodies. Here’s your guide to getting started.

They’re built on the same platform, the development of which was overseen by the late Dave Smith. They cost roughly the same price and take up the same amount of space. But TEO-5 is not Take 5. Look to the Oberheim desktop instrument for the SEM multimode filter, linear through-zero FM, and its own unique effects. Here’s the synth Tom and team built.

One of Dave Smith’s last projects was overseeing the tech platform that would become Take 5. And that was a breakthrough: everything great about the Prophet-5 meets fresh modulation and effects and an accessible price. Now, you can bring Take 5 home for $1299 as a compact desktop unit. Oberheim’s TEO-5 desktop is also out today at that price, thanks to that underlying tech, but let’s talk Sequential first.

Cmon, get down: Chuck D and Flavor Flav have resurfaced to deliver an all-Public Enemy album again, following the all-star guest appearances of their last outings. And they deliver a fiery critique of society, racist government, Big Tech, AI and chatbot love affairs, ageism, and the (CBS-owned) 1973 Yankees. But hip hop, OG hip hop, is here to save us, just like it saved those damned Yankees and the Bronx. This summer needed this release, and it’s right now pay-what-you-will on Bandcamp.

Sometimes, Roland gives us predictable things. Sometimes, the company decides to digitize the handpan for an electronic hand percussion instrument that can also make gamelan and singing bowl sounds, pretty environmental noises, and function as a Bluetooth speaker.

Stewart Copeland went from The Police to prolific composer, but perhaps no score was as beloved as Spyro the Dragon for PlayStation. Those sounds have now been revived in community-led, free libraries that run on all sampling platforms, along with some theory and composition lessons. It can instantly improve your mood–and it all began with Stewart playing, dying, and respawning in the game.

Soundtoys is supporting LGBTQIA+ communities by giving 100% of every purchase today and tomorrow, June 25th and 26th, to Lambda Legal. Here’s more on that organization, and in case you are going on a shopping spree for yourself for charity, a look back at the latest tips and resources on Soundtoys stuff on CDM.