If you feel at sea in a starless night, Ancient Future might summon charts from the ancestors, fragmented through samples and voltages, a hauntology of modular deconstruction. Bana Haffar, co-founder of Modular on the Spot in LA and Beirut Synthesizer Center in Lebanon, has an essential offering out this month.

What do you do when software is feeling a little, well, disposable? Hardware, for one. Universal Audio has updated its Volt line of USB audio interfaces with built-in processing for preamp tone and dynamics, and on the higher-end models, “smart” displays and extras like ADAT input. (Hint: that can solve some of your connection problems to outboard mixer/Eurorack modules/whatever.) And these interfaces are really not expensive, starting at $149.

Beads, the granular “texture synthesizer” that was Emilie Gillet’s follow-up to the legendary Clouds, is now fully open source. That completes the final missing piece in open-source code and free licensing for Mutable Instruments’ iconic and influential range of Eurorack modules.

teenage engineering CEO Jesper Kouthoofd made waves when he casually mentioned he’d told the company he founded to quit making synthesizers. Whatever is coming from the Stockholm company, the jokes they inspire show no signs of abating and — this seems an opportunity.

The patterning on butterfly wings is constructed of tiny blade-like scales (lamellar), with color structured into complex messaging and variation. That’s precisely the sonic feeling of Amalgamate, the latest from Shanghai-based artist 33EMYBW. We got to talk to 33 about alienation, metamorphosis, and the meaning of some of those lyrics. Photos by Di Wei Aamalgamte […]

The granular engine in Baby Audio’s HyperWarp can bend time along graphical paths you create with curved and stepped drawing tools. The result: glitches, timbres, and grooves, rhythmic chops, sweeping pitch shifts, rich coloration, and stasis-leak madness when you want it. I’ve got a hands-on, plus a big CDM-exclusive bank of free patches.

It’s time to dig into the archives. I’d seen this before, but it hits differently now. Herbie Hancock jams out in the studio with Quincy Jones in a 1984 film. It’s notable for what Herbie says with his music, with his approach to the machines, and with how he thinks about humans.

Madrona Labs’ patchable West Coast synth is one of the most playable, exploration-friendly, unique instruments around — a piece of software to last. And it comes with a reverb companion, now on Linux, too as a free demo you can beta-test. The big news: Aalto 2 is coming this fall for macOS, Windows — and Linux, too.

Technology keeps asking us to speed up. Pd is happy to let you slow down: tinker, patch, make mistakes, obsess over a number or signal routing, and do it all visually. The free and open source software is getting a nice 0.57 update with new features, relevant to Pd and tools like libpd and plugdata that are based on it.

The Novation Launchpad grid has its original lineage in Ableton Live integration. But it’s now come to the land of Fruity Loops. FLpad is available in both a standard, velocity-sensitive model and an FLpad mini. For a user base known for shortcuts and speedrunning, can finger-drumming and pad programming find a home?