It’s the underground sleeper hit, a modular, power instrument-DAW-tracker that runs basically everywhere, for free/donation or (on iOS/Android) just a few bucks. And now it just hit 2.0. There’s a ton of new stuff whether you’ve got an ancient smart device or the latest and greatest. Here’s a look.
Music
In Tbilisi, music is on pause because democracy is on the line
Music Stories October 25, 2024
In music video, Lebanese duo Rust captures emotions of “Diaspora”
Music October 11, 2024
Watch this Kazakh pop video for the maximum weirdness of Casio’s singing robot keyboard
Look, I don’t want to say that Casio missed a marketing opportunity here and buried the lede on their awesomely bizarre singing robot keyboard. I’m just saying watch this video and you tell me. It comes from Kazakhstan’s star Imanbek, and getting them one of these keyboards represents in my mind one of the greatest […]
Type in lyrics, and this keyboard sings them, as Casio returns to its Casiotone roots
It’s like the love-child of those fun 80s portable keyboards and Vocaloid. New Casiotone keyboards will sing lyrics for you.
Head by drone to a 3000-year old ruined village for a stunning performance by Hayk Karoyi
You deserve a vacation. If only you could visit what some have dubbed the “Armenian Machu Picchu.” Oh, and also if you could, like, fly. And there was a sick music performance happening.
IK’s model of the Neve 1081 console is free this month, plus free EQ and metering
IK Multimedia are giving away a nice British channel strip model in January. It’s part of a larger download, but you get some free metering and extra EQ in the deal even if you pay nothing at all.
Celebrate your Blue Monday with the choir sound from New Order – and Kraftwerk’s Orchestron
Expect there are quite a few blue Blue Mondays in the house, so this is topical – our friend Alex Theakston dives down a rabbit hole straight to Kraftwerk’s very own Vako Orchestron.
Polyend Tracker 1.5 lets you save custom instruments – and opens up sharing with others
Polyend quietly updated their cult hit Tracker with a smartly-designed feature for keeping settings organized as instruments. What might really matter about that is the chance to exchange your instruments with other Tracker users – a big deal in this passionate community.
Dorico 4 is finally engraving-level notation with MIDI editing powers, in a single tool
As Steinberg’s Dorico 4 matures, at last, we’re seeing a single, elegant tool that produces engraver-quality scores, but also the editing powers you expect from computer music.
Get lost in magical 1983 footage of Brilliant Trees, delicate IBM Dictaphone looping
Whatever you’re doing now, if you want to calm yourself and rediscover the love of slow production, watch this transcendent footage of David Sylvian with Ronny Drayton, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Holger Czukay, Jon Hassell, and Steve Nye.
An album released on Nintendo 64 cartridge – the next nerdy Remute ROM release
Vinyl? Done. Tape? Ha, as if. German artist Remute is using obsolete game technology to release music – and the latest is an album released on an actual, playable Nintendo 64 cartridge.