Forget any associations you may have with additive synthesis. Monomono's Niseko takes that harmonic content and makes it accessible and expressive, via the UI or an input (including Push and MPE).

The post Niseko is a gorgeous, instant must-

Kids today, with their 31 equal divisions of the octave. Yes, it's the music of Nicolà Vicentino, a Renaissance theorist and composer who built his own microtonal harpsichord to accommodate his experimental tunings. But it's not just a theoreti

Kelli Cain and Brian Crabtree are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their monome company and project this week. For anyone moved by their creations over the years, there will be no escape from the feels in this gallery -- and, of course, I couldn'

It's an oscillator, a step sequencer, a modulation and envelope source, a quantizer (with custom tunings) -- even a scope, thanks to its interactive, animated visual interface. Thorn Audio's new Eurorack module can make anything from elegant, p

Piaman, aka half of RYOKO2000, formerly Pianoid (bio: "doesn't play piano at all") is turning himself into a human Vocaloid, with joysticks and fast reflexes. And this is what you need right now. Linkhole trail begins now:

The post

It's Memorial Day in the USA, Whit Monday in Germany and other parts of the West, and since what's truly sacred is shopping, that means some deals running through the end of the day.

The post The best long weekend music gear deals you ca

There's something magical about playing sounds with polyphonic expression. It means translating sound ideas directly to your hands and improvising live, rather than having to go back and edit those ideas in later or take your hands off the keyboard

Deep in the forest of Superbooth earlier this month, Korg showed off some up-and-coming gems, if you knew where to look. That included a compact NTS mixer, updated Sinevibes effects for Korg gear, and add-ons for the phase 8 "acoustic synthesizer,

In a world that's definitely trying to make us dumber and more depressed, let's grow our brains instead. Our friends over at Derivative have a free course that finally makes it easy to start working with POPs -- the Point OPerators that enable

The library for the free and open source VCV Rack has been on fire lately. But this one is a standout: 4ms has a sprawling library of ROMpler modules based on classic drum-machine samples. And don't let the "ROMpler" part fool you: those

Something special happened when Unfiltered Audio untethered their effects section from their mind-blowing drum machine Battalion: this delay and reverb opened up to creative rhythmic use everywhere. And for some reason, they're giving it to us for

Minimal Audio is celebrating its anniversary, and so we get the excellent Hybrid Filter for free for a limited time. And what a nice multi-mode filter this is, with a bunch of exotic modes, amplitude modulation, and a built-in envelope follower as a mo

It's not lost on me that the same week InMusic announced its acquisition of Native Instruments, NI's original founder, Stephan Schmitt was busy showing off new ideas about what a digital instrument can be.

The post C25, from Nonlinear L

Soundmaking and music can fill you with energy, so much so that you might miss out on the importance of a good night's sleep. jumango has engineered a solution: tuck this DIY synth into a blanket, and it falls asleep.

The post jumango made a

Texas-born composer Maggi Payne has just quietly been busy being a legend over decade after decade. Well known to Mills College (as its Center for Contemporary Music co-director until 2018), if you don't know her, you should. And this is just the k

It's been running continuously, without a break, since 2012. Every Thursday morning, Disquiet's Marc Weidenbaum posts a call to a community for a new compositional assignment. And this week, the project reaches the 750th (!) week. That means a

It might blur the line between VJ/animation tool and score generator. But SIGN/e lets you produce graphical scores that live inside an Ableton Live session, as abstract shapes appear and shift in time with the electronic music. And with the right playe

If you're in high school, take note -- and if you're not, this may make you wish you were. Electronic music production gurus Dennis DeSantis and Erin Barra are hosting a week-long intensive at the storied Eastman School of Music. I wanted to kn

The best of show at Superbooth 2026 is an easy pick. Bastl Kalimba, with its combination of acoustic and physical interaction with fluid digital synthesis and sensing, is a triumph of instrument design.

The post Bastl Instruments Kalimba, acoust

You know what would be a crazy idea? Making a polysynth out of analog BBD (bucket brigade delay) chips. Well, Morphor has been doing just that with the polyphonic Echon 6, building on their work on modules like the ultra-lovely Plectrum. And it's w

Reason's RV-9 is a major addition to Reason 14, with algorithmic reverb, spectral and granular effects, and plate, spring, and reverb, plus a ton of extras from shimmer to patchability. Let's take a deep dive and learn how to get the most out o

Reason 14 is out of beta now, with faster workflows and a bunch of new effects packed into the new RV-9 Reverb Station, plus Dark Mode. I've been testing the beta for a few weeks now. Here's your snapshot guide to what's new and how to upgr

Lavendel Kranz's lavender- and gold-colored Eurorack modules and eye-popping stand have long been a show favorite. But it's time to free up some space to bring these home, because two must-have modules are in stock and production is ramping up.

Teenage Engineering's two-channel K.O.-sidekick is an answer to the question "what if a battle mixer, but for mobile gear, with live FX?" And that could make it an ideal companion to more than just the Teenage Engineering kit you see in t

inMusic Brands, the US-based owner of Akai, Moog, Denon, Numark, Rane, and M-Audio, announced today that it will acquire Native Instruments. That puts NI tools like Traktor and Kontakt under the inMusic umbrella along with Plugin Alliance, iZotope, and

It was bound to happen. Now Eurorack hardware is emulating your computer. How the tables have turned! Or, um, mesas. But if you haven't experienced Plateau yet, get ready to find out why it's an instant favorite reverb -- and one that a whole l

Soundhack creations endure years and decades, and now we get a new one. Think mighty morphing modeless modulation. Plexiphon is neither reverb or echo. It's both, simultaneously, for spatial textural sounds you can shift fluidly. And in my quest to

Elastic OSC expands on Émilie Gillet's 24 original open-source Plaits oscillator models, adding 8-voice polyphony, expression (MPE), a modulation engine, and Elastic effects. And if that sounds like something you wish you had in your computer DAW a

It's the biggest Commodore Amiga news of the week: Pink Parrot Studio is launching a new "Dynamic Performance Sequencer" with powerful modulation and Trig Tools option, built for jamming right on the computer keyboard. And there's a m

tbd 16 does everything the other standalone grooveboxes do, but in a handheld form factor, built as an open platform that you’re free to customize, mod, and hack. Choose the engines and apps you want to use. And get them all on a compact, standalone de

It's been decades in coming: what if you took the best parts of the classic Buchla complex oscillator with its, well, ziggy waveshapes, and built a friendly compact synth around it? It's all that modular fun, but in a package that lets you twea

It's a modular week, yes, but here are things you can never have too much of: great food, open beaches, modular environments, and Giorgio Sancristoforo sound playgrounds. So here's Homework, a 4-track cassette recorder, retro effects including

"It's okay to not have a plan -- it's okay to just jump and see what happens": Circle of Live is an event that brings together artists for spontaneous improvised performance. Ableton filmed Clark, Rival Consoles, Sebastian Mullaert, a

Ableton Live 12.4 is inbound, with Link Audio support coming to Live, Move, Note, and Push. But Live Audio can also be about routing audio over a network to other hosts, too. Julien Bayle (VOID) has an early, open-source implementation. If you're r

Today is May Day, the original date for Labor Day, or a pagan date to drive away evil spirits. Actually -- why not both? For today's International Workers' Day, United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) is sharing some optimism, as it takes on

Over 30 labels are uniting to raise funds for the 1.5 million people now forcibly displaced in Lebanon. With Bandcamp Friday today, now's your chance to maximize album purchases for that effort. Here are the details -- and a few music selections to

Apple now offers two USB-C models of the AirPods Max 2 that support live mixing with Spatial Audio. Are there production uses for Apple's flagship consumer headphones? Let's explain.

The post Apple AirPods Max Spatial Audio mixing, “pro”

Today’s MPC 3.8 software integrates the mobile MPC Sample with the MPC family. Bring your MPC Sample projects to your MPC or computer, load MPC tracks onto the MPC Sample, and use MPC Sample effects anywhere. This really makes the MPC Sample a mobile c

Expressive E is making its expressive, multi-dimensional keyboards more accessible, with 49- and 61-key controller Osmose options starting at $/€999. And across the full range, the company's sound ecosystem is expanding with updated software, inclu

Get together in a space, and play as an ensemble, not just a soloist. Oh yeah, and we can probably even do better than just mashing play at the same time (though sometimes that works)! Sync, Link, Link Audio, let's explain how to make it work so yo

"Music production feels pointless now," says Tim -- but years after walking away from DAWs, he's embraced instrument building. New Modular System is a patchable environment, constructed in Reaktor, that's truly Exile-ish in philosophy

It turns out you don't need VST2 and AU and AAX and CLAP versions of the same plug-in. Here's a free, fast command-line tool that gets rid of them in a hurry, with options for particular configurations, on macOS.

The post Spring cleaning

In a dark and often soulless world, the Square Enix Music Channel is a total oasis -- like an instant-action antidepressant. Want to see the Osaka sound team play with a sushi piano? Want to hear composer Yoko Sihomura talk about figure skating? Want t

Beloved by digital reverb buffs and shoegaze aficionados, not one but two classic reverbs are now in unofficial plug-in emulations -- the MicroVerb and the MIDIVERB II. That includes the full range of MIDIVERB multi-effects, from gated reverbs to choru

Soundtoys' Decapitator, Radiator, and Little Radiator (they're different!) each is capable of nuanced saturation, compression, drive, and tone for mix tasks. Or you can unleash bloody murder. So if you're in the need of a way to direct rage

In a way, it's funny how complicated we make modulation. We wind up creating layers of envelopes and free-running oscillations just to get what we want. Tomavatars' MSteppySnap, once you grok its approach, is nothing like that. This is steppy s

Ableton tends to discount its products only a couple of times a year, so this flash sale is worth noting. They're offering 25% off Live 12 Suite and Standard, upgrades, and all Packs, now through Wednesday, April 29. So if you've fallen behind

Memory may be vanishing, phones and laptops may be getting downgraded specs. But we're enjoying an unexpected renaissance of mobile samplers. And of all of these, Casio might pack the most fun into a single package. The SXC-1's Japanese preorde

May 29: that's the date Boards of Canada is back with Inferno. And you must be excited about it, because Bleep is down. But we have a dreamy faux-VHS tape to watch and hear, anyway.

The post Y’all want the new Boards of Canada so bad you cra

For over two decades, Rafael Anton Irisarri has been carving out a space that exists somewhere between the tectonic weight of modern classical and the vaporous drift of ambient music. Whether recording under his own name or as The Sight Below, Irisarri