Arturia’s latest refresh of their sprawling V Collection is here today. In addition to updates across the Augmented line and the inclusion of the latest instruments, there are two surprises: a layered “lo-fi” synth and an instrument of the Roland JP-8000. Yes, really, the JP-8000: sometimes you want the 90s and 2000s and not only, like, the 70s and 80s.

If you don’t know the hyperfuturist post-anthropocene duo* MIRA新伝統 aka Honami Higuchi and Raphael Leray, you need to. But now for three bucks – $3!! – you can drop their absolutely addictive Max for Live mayhem into your Ableton Live set. Should you? You should.

Hip hop, new wave, techno, and house are inseparable from funk history – and any discussion of funk in the 1970s demands a conversation about Black liberation. Emmy winner and MacArthur Fellow Stanley Nelson and Grammy-nominated producer Nicole London have produced a full-length history.

OXI ONE MKII is inbound, with preorders about to start. OXI Instruments is taking their packed grid sequencer and adding more of everything, while keeping the compact size. (Missed opportunity not to call this the “one two,” though!)

Nasko, the prolific and imaginative software developer, is back with a new one – and it’s completely free, running in Plug Data (Pd) on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It’s a convolution-based spectrum disperser. Say what? Well, you get a powerful, precise, fairly rare method for generating impulse responses for convolution tools, like Kilohearts Convolution (now on sale), the one just added to Serum 2, and more. Or just play it live, because that also sounds kind of awesome.

Built in Swift, now extensible with JavaScript plug-ins, IINA is the free media player that macOS needed. Hey, everybody: play with a fresh, minimalist player that handles local files, music, and streaming with aplomb. (Hey, old people: it’s like QuickTime Pro is back!)

Hey, kids, look, it’s the Easter Bunny! And listen to the way the beast helps your beautiful song to evolve! Okay, if the folks at Caelum Audio wanted to sell us on their new DynaBit plugin, this isn’t the worst way – especially as even this holiday freebie has some powerful features. They’ve got some other free downloads, too.

Who says modular has to be all about monosynths? Certainly not Knobula, who followed up their Poly Cinematic with this 8-voice polysynth in just 12HP, packed with multiple oscillator and filter modes, built-in reverb, and full MPE support.

Benn Jordan’s latest video proposes a way to fight back when generative AI music services rip off music for their data sets. It’s not ready for prime time yet, but it does offer a window into the wild, wonderful world of adversarial noise poisoning attacks.

Vela, a new reverb from Sonic Academy’s Sonic Sounds line, is now in open beta. And yes, I’m here to tempt your RAS – Reverb Acquisition Syndrome again. The range of reverberation emulations here, combined with node-based editing, might mean you do need another reverb. (Sorry/not sorry.)