It was once the pinnacle of digital recordable audio, a would-be successor to the mighty cassette tape. And for one glorious moment in 1996, Sony MiniDisc was all that was right with the world, exemplified by a trippy Japan-only ad campaign with none other than Jamiroquai.

El Jaguar, out now, is a rhythmic excursion from sound library sameness. This toolkit from boutique house MNTRA produces a deeply customizable sound world by re-amping through the legendary Picó sound systems of Barranquilla, Colombia. It’s something new, melding Montréal synth love and afro-Caribbean percussion into a new hybrid playground for producers.

Roland has quietly added eight classic BOSS Effects pedals as Roland Cloud plug-ins, including OD-1 OverDrive, PH-1 Phaser, DS-1 Distortion, and more. That’s a welcome addition, but you should know where to find still more effects in Roland Cloud’s expansive, if sometimes confusing, lineup.

It’s time to escape mechanical loops and rigid, on-the-grid timing. Fugue Machine Rubato does everything Alexandernaut’s brilliant Fugue Machine did with multiple playheads. But now it can also accelerate, decelerate, bounce, echo, strum, swing, and bend, for both pitches and rhythmic triggers. It’s what has been missing in our digital sequencers: freedom.

The people we work with in music and music tech are more than just colleagues: they’re friends, inspiration, and part of our lives. Stephen Fortner, long-time editor-in-chief of the former USA-based Keyboard Magazine suffered a stroke earlier this month can use some support as he heals.

Getting hands-on with Dreadbox’s new 6-voice synth was a clear Superbooth highlight. Artemis is one instrument that combines 6-voice polyphonic analog with Sinevibes digital effects. But it wasn’t just my hands on it; we’ve got Sinevibes’ Artemiy playing this for us, too. And there’s more to this one than just the sum of its parts.

Young independent outlet Megaphone tells the story of Irtijal Festival’s impact on Beirut and Lebanon through local eyes and a compilation of the folks who made it happen. It’s a must-watch as a way of reflecting on the spaces we create for music in all parts of the world.

Today, Ahmed Muin, director of Gaza Birds Singing, rose with drones loudly buzzing in the background. The sound of bombings through the night in Gaza has been relentless, he says. But he’ll join live with the Hebron/Bethlehem Amwaj Choir in a livestream today, a second musical encounter defying violence and starvation.

Sinevibes’ creations are all gems running on the ultra-compact, ultra-economical KORG NTS-3 kaoss pad (via logue SDK). But the Cache update is an especially big deal, with new reverse, rewind, and scratch modes. Creator Artemiy Pavlov showed us just how. Cache was designed specifically for the NTS-3, so the whole effect and how you interact […]

Trigger envelopes and synced patterns of shapes and gates on macOS, Windows, and Linux – for free. GATE-12 by tiagolr has some features you’ve probably seen before, but combined in clever ways and elegantly integrated, plus the price is right.