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

What if an integrated plug-in instrument could rival even full-blown modulars? That’s the question posed by u-he’s Zebra 3, out now at long last for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It’s unlikely any other soft synth takes on just this much synthesis territo

"Gramps, tell us the story again!" Well, young'n, before LLMs and generative AI, we were really excited about making big clouds of dots using statistical techniques for visualization. And actually, it's still cool -- and runs free, lo

If you need an excuse to suit up for an extravehicular activity in the cosmos of sound, Absynth is back again. Native Instruments quietly dropped Absynth 6.1, with oft-requested LFO retrigger and undo/redo, plus a surprise: a new audio modulator.

Skip the laptops and loads of proprietary hardware with an ultra-simple, portable, affordable add-on that turns any turntable into a digital vinyl turntable. That's the pitch from NAP Works for crowdfunded, compact hardware built on open-source tec

UAD Explore is a surprise. This is no "intro" or limited pack; eight stand-out Universal Audio plug-ins are available for free. That's on top of the company's free Luna DAW — though the plug-ins will also work in your DAW of choice, n

Let's hear it for reverbs you can play, morph, squash, and swell -- not just set and forget. That's Intellijel Swells, the "Multi-Model Reverb Module with Swell Generator," or perhaps more aptly, "a lush reverb with a bunch of fa

By separating frequency spectrum emphasis from phase modulation, the “hybrid vibrato” Duality can create unique, clean, stereo-spinning pitch modulation. It’s one of Sinevibes’ most nuanced — but also most compelling — effects. I’ve been working with p

It seems like just yesterday we were ogling the launch of Akai's inexpensive, ultra-portable standalone MPC ...okay, three weeks. But Akai delivered some important updates in the 1.3 firmware, available today, on top of V1.2.1 (in case you blinked)

The prolific Kaximia of Tembra Modular and the series "Let's explore modular synthesis" transports us to a Synth Days holiday weekend event in Kyiv. Let's welcome her CDM writing debut, as she gives us a window into a Ukrainian modula

This looks like a good case of what happens when a simple idea does a ton of stuff -- the opposite of a unitasker. Two faders, but there's attenuator, attenuverter, crossfader, preamp, line level booster, panner, mixer, and and and...

The po

Again and again, music communities in Lebanon have embraced mutual aid and spoken out through activism and in their art. That's been true from experimental music labels to the Beirut Synthesizer Center initiative. They're getting results. It

Reason 14 probably won't cross off every item on Reason users' wish lists. But it sure tackles a lot: a new Track Panel and workflow, tons of improvements to the sequencer, Dark Mode, automatic import tempo detection, and more. Plus, since ever

Swedish manufacturer Elektron is no longer independent; Bonnier Capital has bought a controlling stake.

The post Elektron is the latest firm to be acquired by private investment capital appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

I'll take a side order with the fixins'. Objeq Delay gives you the signature physical modeling resonator that's the secret ingredient in AAS' main-course instruments, but in a handy multi-effect with stereo delays and filters. Version 2