Artist uses AI to perfectly fake 70s science fiction pulp covers – artwork and titles

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 […]

Freequel plugins and Reason RE – distortion, synths from Noise Engineeering for free

It’s like ripping some of the delicious goodness out of the Noise Engineering modules and adding them to your DAW of choice or Reason Rack, for free. And now the trio – distortion and two synths – have substantially enhanced modulation, control, and usability.

FFT magic explained with animations and smoothies, not equations

Ah, the Fast Fourier Transform. You see it throughout audio and synthesis. And, of course, it’s the thing that … transforms … things. Faster. It’s a fast way of transforming things. Probably a guy named Fourier was involved. Wait – ever wish you knew more about what an FFT actually is and how it works – or even if you do know, wish you had a better visual reference in your own mind and a way to explain to others?

Elektron Digitone 1.32 OS improves quality of life, in line with last summer’s Digitakt refresh

The Digitakt got updates last summer; this winter, it’s Digitone’s turn. Look to full dual mono mode for inputs, filter envelope delay, global FX mix, and other improvements like intensity for the displays, plus – of course – bug squashing.

Jon Appleton, composer and Synclavier innovator, has died

Another giant of electronic music’s evolution has passed, with the loss on Sunday of Jon Appleton.

Live 11.1 is here, with Apple M1 support and more – here’s how to get the most out of it

For a lot of users, it’ll just mean the splash screen goes from pink to gray. But Live 11.1 is a beta no more. That’s huge news if you’re on Apple Silicon, but there are a lot of other little improvements you’ll want to catch whatever platform you use.

Play Philip Glass’ piano for free, with the latest Spitfire LABS release

Philip Glass turns 85 this week, and you can celebrate by stealing his piano. Well – you can celebrate by getting a free plug-in version of his favorite piano.

PatchXR creator tool, for building complete musical worlds in VR, opens sign-ups for beta

Patch we’ve seen already to be an unparalleled tool for building interactive musical instruments and complete immersive worlds in VR. Now it’s nearing beta release, with a sign-up for closed access immediately.

Universal Control hits macOS, iPadOS, integrating devices and a huge boon to devs and makers

If you produce anything that involves juggling Apple devices, Universal Control is now nearly ready for public consumption. Developers are the first to get to try it out – but that’s relevant, as I’m sure that’s the community that’s been most eager.

Sequence sounds out of emoticons-icons with this surprisingly addictive free website

We have access to endlessly powerful music creation and sound synthesis software. So… why on this particular Friday is it more fun to make stupid sequences out of emoticons? Enjoy “thirtydollarhaircut.”