Wait – maybe that’s the worst mash-ups. They’re so bad they’re good, though. Microsoft Research Songsmith, a 2009 automatic accompaniment software that worked with monophonic vocal input, was best known for its viral, cringeworthy promo video. But long before generative AI came on the scene, Songsmith also gave us these. Queen – I’m sorry. Rewind/flashback time…

It’s time for a very special episode of Magical Synth Adventures. Armed with some rare and wonderful grooveboxes, host, artist, and music tech journalist Paulee Alex Bow turns their hate mail into songs – and surprise, you get some bangers.

Apple updated Logic Pro for iPad and macOS today. They’re leading with stem splitting enhancements and sound packs, but advanced users may be more interested in a bunch of improvements across the mixer, automation, Spatial Audio, accessibility, and more. Here’s what long-time Logic users might most want to know. (Hint: undo history saving!)

MD1 is the full library of famous and obscure hardware drum machines your Ableton Move needs – plus a bunch of Drift presets and tonal samples, to boot. It’s optimized for Ableton Move, and comes with well-organized sample files you can use anywhere.

In a challenging three acts – purification, initiation, and revelation – Universe in Prayer – فَلَک در ذِکْر takes the Bohlen-Pierce scale as a starting point for an intentional “invocation of Otherness, mystery, and transcendence.” It’s the latest from friend-of-the-site Arash Azadi.

US readers, if you’re looking for deals on new gear, major retailers are all running sales. Here are a few hand-picked selections I’d be scoping out if I lived in the US. And for now, while some inventory is backordered, you can lock in pre-tariff pricing.

Arriving with this weekend’s giveaways are some big freebies from Universal Audio and Native Instruments (now parent of iZotope). If you act fast, that includes iZotope’s Tonal Balance Control for free, through the US holiday weekend ending late Monday. Let’s break down the offers and tools.

Our music communities, the music instruments industry, the artists and engineers — all these groups would be incomplete without our trans friends and colleagues. But as their rights are stripped away systematically, as people question their right to exist, “visibility” is not enough. For US readers, now is a key time to act, with Senators coming home for the holiday weekend and ugly legislation looming.

From the mind of Behrang Najafi – known as half of Temp Illusion, among other things – “Kudos to Living Artists” asks the question, how would you make a mix of just one artist? Invited artists have crafted tributes to Boards of Canada, Brigitte Fontaine, Peder Mannerfelt, Grischa Licthenberger, Tania León, and more.

It was once the pinnacle of digital recordable audio, a would-be successor to the mighty cassette tape. And for one glorious moment in 1996, Sony MiniDisc was all that was right with the world, exemplified by a trippy Japan-only ad campaign with none other than Jamiroquai.