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 companion. Even if the MPC Sample is the only standalone device […]

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, including the new Ctrl-e platform for sound. That means it’s easier to afford and get started with these unique MPE keyboards, and you’ll more quickly find ready-to-play sounds.

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 you can get to the jam.

“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’s not about a bunch of wire connections. You drop in colored modules and get straight to tweaking, generating, and playing — with wild, massively diverse results.

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.

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 to tune into an hours-long stream of Final Fantasy III music? They’re here for you. I guarantee you it’s better than anything else you could possibly be watching.

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 chorus and triggered flange, plus the grit and reverse of the Micro. Let’s travel back to the hottest gear of the late 1980s, for free.

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 into sound for some reason — we’ve got you.

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.