The unprovoked attack by Israel on Iran this week has put civilians in both countries under attack and the entire region at risk of escalating war. There’s a loud chorus from many of my Iranian friends, colleagues, and the artists I’ve written about over the years. Attacks on civilians and neighborhoods across Tehran and the country are being underreported, and artists are calling on us to spread the word.

Connecting with a musical voice isn’t always about hearing something glossy and finished. Sometimes, with the chaos and horrors around us, that perfectly-ordered kind of music can even cease to make sense. These electronic emanations from FAX, the Baja California, Mexico-based producer, are like a salve, like cool water for the soul.

Ableton Live 12.2 went from beta to public yesterday. And there’s more for all Live users – Iftah has an accessible tuner device called Pitch Pipe and Side Brain has an awesome free instrument rack for performing granular tricks, among other new add-ons. You don’t have time to wade through hours of videos; let’s put everything in one place and get bouncing tracks/spectral resonating/granulating.

Inclusion and accessibility are the answer. They’re why we’re here—and they’re a way for developers to support themselves by reaching new audiences. Let’s tune in to Apple’s latest WWDC sessions on the topic, as there are notes here both within Apple’s ecosystem and for reflection across platforms.

Mutable Instruments’ Frames had one of Émilie’s best and most underrated ideas: apply keyframing, as in animation and motion, to modular control. Now, Grayscale Modular is developing that concept with 12 channels and more control. It’s available for $399 as hardware, or you can try it right now in VCV Rack for free.

Don’t let front of house tell you you can’t crank your live set because it “isn’t mastered.” And don’t let the diminutive size of these modules fool you in the studio, either. Aircraft Designs, a group of young engineers from Ukraine, has built a promising take on signal processing with a series of Eurorack modules coming soon. Meet Processing System:

Get hands-on control of Euclidean rhythms on Ableton Push, Push 2, Push 3, and even Push 3 standalone, with Mark Towers’ new creation for Max for Live. And wow, this is addictive–especially for generating geometric melodies and techno grooves.

Moog Messenger is something new. Because that’s the first major product entirely developed under new owners inMusic*, that might make you nervous. But this synth is full of surprises—and could be the Moog synth your rig has been missing. Moog’s Erik Norlander, Director of Keyboard Product Development, walked us through the synth. I think it might wind up being his biggest hit since the Alesis Andromeda.

Ah, shiny, new, free modules for the free VCV Rack. They’re a perfect solution to starting new tracks and playing with new toys. Of course, that’s not a problem most of us have. Starting is easy; finishing is hard. Enter JW Arrange. Let’s have a look.

What if an instrument revolutionized synthesis, but most folks didn’t notice? That’s the 1993 Yamaha VL1 in a nutshell. Its approach to modeling a range of instrumental vibrations, resonances, reflections, and articulations is deeply connected to instruments today. But most synthesists don’t know about it – apart from a handful of enthusiasts and people who read magazines in the early 90s. So it’s time to sing this unsung legend’s story.