Don’t just call it a Second City to Berlin: Chicago’s epic KnobCon has become a major stop on the world’s synth and modular circuit. DivKid gives us the feel of the place, and here are a few highlights of what was introduced earlier this month.

Following the death of founder Keith McMillen, his company, Keith McMillen Instruments, has announced it will continue as Muse Kinetics. They’ve also got updates on stock in the latest versions of their tools.

September 17, 2024, would have been hyper pop legend Sophie Xenon’s 38th birthday. Just over three years after her death, Google has put her in the spotlight internationally on its “Doodle” on the search engine’s homepage—hopefully a chance for folks to discover or rediscover her music, which seems more prescient than ever.

It’s generative music that can fit into a spare pocket of a backpack. Nintendo DS + CellsDS homebrew + a little Lua code hacking + Korg’s Pandora PX4D guitar multi-effects = pure bliss.

VDMX6 is the biggest update for the live Mac visual tool in over a decade. Wait, no – it’s the biggest single-day news for Mac visuals in over a decade, full stop. Metal support, TouchDesigner integration, HAP updates, and more have implications beyond VDMX6 to other live visual tools, too.

Roland’s latest handheld boutique synth is a departure. Instead of a synth or drum machine, it was inspired by the SP-404. Here’s the skinny on its onboard sampling, effect, and sequencer features, direct from the source.

Ableton Operator, the FM instrument designed by Robert Henke, is celebrating 20 years since its (internal) debut. Want to celebrate? How about a ton of FM synthesis and Operator history, 100 free presets from Robert Henke and Christian Kleine, and more links? And now is a great time to celebrate those years – or even try Operator sound design for the first time.

Dark, hard techno producer and DJ Chiara Bubu, aka OCD, is working through chemotherapy and fighting cancer. She’s also using that as an opportunity to talk about the disease and treatment and remind audiences that young people can get cancer, too.

Devotees of the new Roland MC boxes said it all along: these boxes are deep — if you’re willing to dive in. Developer Benedetto Schiavone has done what Roland didn’t and created a comprehensive editor for everything the MC-101 and MC-707 can do, hacking into the hidden features of the MCs.

“I’ve been too long, I’m glad to be back”: our MeeBlip geode synth is finally available again in a limited, 100-unit run. For the Nightshade Edition, we’ve given it an all-black livery and aluminum knobs, and we’re hand-signing and numbering every synth.