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 snappy whooshy glorgy modulation you can play, capture, and trigger intuitively.

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 on Live versions, or been eyeing those Max for Live Devices I’m constantly writing up, here’s your chance. Let’s refresh our brains on what’s in the upgrades.

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 preorder was announced and sold out this week, and with good reason: this looks like the most fun we’ve had with Casio since the 80s and 90s.

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.

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’s work is characterized by a physical sense of scale – soundscapes that feel like they have weather systems and geological history.

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 territory, or with this much depth. From spline-based morphing oscillators to physical modeling and […]

“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, locally, in your browser. Lev Manovich and team have brought back ImagePlot, and in a moment, it transforms any folder of images into a visualization.

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 tech. It might do more than just impress digital vinyl DJs: this has the potential to win over even the CDJ crowd.

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, no special hardware required. For skill sharing or anyone lacking a budget now, that means access to some great tools.