Enjoy Monty Python’s Argument Sketch on two vintage speech synthesizers

A DECtalk Express stands in for Monty Python actor Michael Palin, with an Intex Talker (Votrax SC-01A) voicing the role of John Cleese. Retro speech synthesis just sounds better. Not more intelligible, necessarily, but absolutely better. And it’s hilarious. Eat your heart out, Transmediale / Ars Electronica / etc.: If all of this sounds familiar, […]

Oldest recorded voices, haunted dolls, and more from Tempest Instruments

New sound technologies? Sure, okay, I guess. But haunted dolls of the 1890s as made by Thomas Edison? Oh, now you’ve got my attention. So in case you haven’t discovered this before, Tempest Instruments, a “small team” led by TV/film and video game composer Alex Davis, has been collected strange sound ephemera of the 19th […]

Peter Kirn - September 22, 2026

x0xb0x, the synth that launched an open-source hardware boom, is reborn

Based on the legendary TB-303, the x0xb0x was an underground legend all its own, one that helped popularize the open-source hardware movement. And now it’s back, in a digital emulation of the original hardware, from x0xb0x’s original creator.

Peter Kirn - September 17, 2026

A patchable solar-powered synth with a speaker; birds, hot dogs, and more

Peter Kirn - September 2, 2026

Optical analog video feedback in a massive, rotating 4K machine

Peter Kirn - August 31, 2026

A $5 modular drum circuit, a free online course, and how it grows into more

Peter Kirn - August 21, 2026

Handmade experimental synths and DIY from Argentina’s Los Aparatos

Peter Kirn - August 17, 2026

The TR-808 is getting an MSW open-source firmware and a Tubbutec mod

Peter Kirn - August 11, 2026

Push Hack, very unauthorized access to Push 3’s display, files, MIDI, and more

Peter Kirn - August 3, 2026