Ever taught a synthesis course? At some point, you invariably try to explain an LFO as being like a machine turning the knob instead of your hand. Welp – Teenage Engineering just made that illustration literal. They also now have a line of barebones modules for €29 each a la carte, adaptable to Eurorack with some extra gear.

Once upon a time in 1979, Pearl – yeah, the drum maker Pearl – made its own drum module. And it’s been sought after ever since, as well as enjoying a nice renaissance thanks to hardware remakes. Now at last, you can get it in plug-in form, with that friendly, playable panel layout. Cost: just a few bucks.

Reed Ghazala’s latest generation of instruments is here, gazing back at us with glass eyeballs and dubbed with names like “photon clarinet.” The father of circuit bending also espouses a new conceptual frame and philosophy – errism. And to err is human, but also is cat.

It’s Herb Deutsch’s birthday today – and what better way to celebrate than listen to him talk about music, sound, and synthesizers? The co-creator of the Moog modular is featured in a just-released video and is a great professor to all of us as always. Pull up a chair.

It’s all about positive and negative distortion. Today Minimal’s Rift 2.0 hits, with refreshed features, an updated look, and must-have Apple Silicon support. I’ve had an advance copy; here’s a hands-on.

Momo Müller continues a tear through our favorite music gear, with companion plug-ins to capture and recall automation and integrate with DAWs. The OP-Z is next – and gives your desktop some love alongside what Teenage Engineering already built for your mobile device.

This is a nice unexpected gift – some favorite adventurous sound artists and favorite futuristic Javier Senosiain architecture coming together in a new Arturia feature from Mexico.

Visual platform, VJ tool, and media server Resolume keeps adding cool stuff. 7.9 brings advanced monitoring right on your display, perfect for more complex settings and mapping, plus a big, easy search tool for bringing up all the modules (nodes) inside the Wire patching environment.

Real-time granulator Emergence spins incoming audio streams into rich textures – and it’s a free download, with inexpensive Patreon options available to support the author. I’ve been hands-on with it lately; here’s how to get more out of it.

It’s algorithmic, generative 70s sci-fi pulp, courtesy OpenAI. Artist Lewis tells us about how it was done. Meanwhile, see how many friends will pretend to have heard of Neytiri A. Quaritch’s pioneering tome, Green Glass is the Color of the Wind. Whether you’re a hardcore sci-fi fan or have just been rummaging 70s paperbacks at […]