From an ultra-meta cover of Lana del Rey’s “Video Games” on video game consoles to poignant chip ballads and Underworld covers, plus “8-dimensional” spatial electropop, if you don’t know Seattle-based synthpop music artist Leeni Ramadan, now is the time. Oh, and if that hasn’t already made your day, stick around for “doom-wop” covers of Britney Spears.

KORG Gadget 3 adds new instrument gadgets, effects, a new browser, and a Play page. But what has everyone most excited is that on iOS, you can now use gadgets as separate AUv3 plug-ins in other hosts. Gadgets are also on a discount at the moment.

Finally, Teenage Engineering looks set to hit the sweet spot we want. Their new box has the stylish Braun-like industrial design of their high-end gear – but it’s $299 and builds on the fun of the Pocket Operator line.

Roland has updated the OS on their flagship FANTOM 6, 7, and 8 synths. It’s a major update, with everything from a shimmer reverb to Analog Circuit Behavior sounds, stage pianos to some classic synths. If you wanted just one keyboard to play everything Roland, the FANTOM is now that instrument.

The Playdate looks at first like a curiosity – a black-and-white pocket game system with a crank, from Teenage Engineering and Panic. But now as it starts to get into the world, it’s proving itself as a beautiful mobile instrument, especially with developer Orllewin making everything from samplers to effects pedals and recorders.

Same as it ever was: if you want a touch controller, or a mobile controller of your own design, the easy default answer is simple. It’s TouchOSC. And today’s little bump-update is a good time to talk about it again.

It’s one of the cartridges that launched the Game Boy musician phenomenon. And you can still go back to vintage Nintendo hardware with this beautiful homebrew music-making platform. Just watch.

Speaking of VR, KORG’s ongoing collaboration with developer DETUNE keeps bringing their instruments to more platforms. VR is the latest, in the form of a Meta Quest (and PC VR) version of KORG Gadget, the toybox full of fun Korg instruments, beatmakers, and pattern makers.

Polyend’s flagship all-in-one instrument and sequencer grid Play gets a big update this week. That includes a sought-after Piano Roll, plus a whole bunch of features for melodies and chords.

We talk about the Mac, but ultimately the Mac was a vehicle for GUIs – icons, mice, scrolling, toolboxes, painting. We talk about the iPhone, but the iPhone turned out to be about mobile photography and apps and touch. Get too hung up on the (very pricey) initial hardware, and you might miss some of the potential of what Apple is doing with what they call spatial computing. And you’ll also miss how some of these threads in interaction design started – as with those other examples – long before Apple.