You press a button to set it in motion, and from there, it’s anyone’s guess. The screen just makes glitchy patterns at you. The knobs and buttons do… something. Pressing the screen resets. But once it’s connected, the AW noise maker opens a wormhole to warped realms of sound.

It’s the absolute opposite of “AI” as you’ve seen it. There’s no online connection, no giant data set. And here, neural nets help you to escape generic presets and defaults — not lead you into them. The new PhenoType for Sonic Charge Synplant will help you precisely define the ear-bending alien sounds you want to create in words. CDM got an early look.

At attention! Unfiltered Audio has taken their deep drum synth and favorite effects and remade them as VCV Rack modules. This is instabuy territory ($10-20 a la carte or an intro pricing of $30 for the set, compatible with the free Rack).

It’s a tragic contradiction: as Lebanon’s state of emergency worsens, support wanes. That means it’s time for updates on Lebanese-organized music efforts we’ve covered, plus a new call to action. Today, you can tune in and support a 12-hour fundraiser bridging Beirut and the world, with DJ Haram, Hyper Gal, Marylou, Metro Al Madina, Model/Actriz, Moor Mother, Nabihah Iqbal, Snakeskin, Yasmine Hamdan, and Ziad Nawfal.

Cairo-born producer ABADIR is back with a four-track gut-punch of Arab rhythm, a foot-stomping, belly-activating powerhouse of an EP. True to its label, The Primitivist is neither fetishized nor repurposed: it’s Rami speaking in a native musical language that’s fully rooted and simultaneously all his own. The Primitivist by ABADIR We don’t get a lot […]

Imagine crossing vocal synthesis with a rungler, vocal circuits entangling with each other like they’re “speaking in tongues.” Or enveloped grooves that bend and twist with liquid controls, shaped with tuplets and polymeters. Creator Jelle Akkerman is launching every something plug-ins today with two new tools, Glosso and Artikulation. Here’s your guide to both.

Francisco Partners, the private equity firm, is now exiting Muse Group amid 2026’s financial maneuvers. Muse Group is the Cyprus-based conglomerate that owns the publishing giant Hal Leonard, audio editor Audacity, notation software MuseScore and StaffPad, and the online platform Ultimate Guitar.

You run up against a limitation in Ableton Live, or you’ve got a creative idea. What if you could make it happen using code? That’s the Ableton Extension SDK, out in public beta now (JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js). And just like that, we’ve got Live with handy new workflows, opening up scores, connecting to the Web, and playing games. Here’s what it means, and what it can and can’t do (so far).

Behind the headlines, there is the reality of living through war. Our friend in Kyiv, Kaximia, (part of Tembra Modular, “Let’s explore modular synthesis”) is back to talk about how music can be an outlet. The past days and hours have been horrifying, from Tyre to Odesa, so I’m grateful to Kaximia for her reflections […]

Epic layoffs in March cut deep into the audio and music teams. But there’s hope that their work will live on in Unreal Engine and MetaSounds, via what is arguably the most innovative sound work built into any game engine. Unreal Engine 5.8, now in preview, features a bunch of powerful tools for working with sound, one of the biggest sound releases yet. Here’s a look at what’s in that roadmap.