ШЩЦ, the label born in Kyiv and raised in London, is now touring to Berlin and Prague. It’s a perfect time to visit some of the rich ambient sounds they’ve been exploring. Both labels promise to develop the underappreciated leftfield music of Ukraine and its diaspora, forming tighter collaborations with a growing network of like-minded internationals.
Music
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Metal on macOS excels at live visuals; try a free Gaussian splat tool
Developer Anton Marini, aka vade, is bringing back the legacy of Quartz Composer and proving Apple’s visual APIs are ready for real-time. Have a look—and watch what you can do with 3D Gaussian splats (if you know you know).
Waldorf has recreated the Microwave 1 wavetable synth in software
1989’s Waldorf Microwave is about to hit your DAW. And this isn’t just another plug-in emulation of some vintage gear. Waldorf has gone to great lengths to reproduce both the analog and digital sides of the original – and even built software that can act as an editor if you do have the original hardware.
Don’t just crossfade, scan: Vostok and DivKid Trace for Eurorack
DivKid and Vostok Instruments are bringing the joys of the Interpolating Scanner to Eurorack. First introduced 30 years ago by legendary engineer and analog sound hacker Jürgen Haible, the classic scanning circuit smoothly transitions between four input channels.
Pitch is political: learning Arabic maqams and decolonizing music
Sami Abu Shumays has uploaded his complete lecture on politics and maqams. He talks about how decolonizing music also meant decolonizing himself—reconnecting to his roots as a Palestinian American. This is essential context for Sami’s work, which includes the Arabic tuning section of Ableton Live 12’s tuning implementation and free companion site.
Hexinverter’s ultimate rimshot module for Eurorack: remixed by Erica Synths
“I got a fever! And the only prescription is … more rimshot!” If you’re set to get really obsessive about analog rimshots and claves, this Erica Synths reboot of Hexinverter has you. (And you might discover unique kicks and toms and other percussion, too.)
Screengaze is the new hit ’em
That’s it. That’s the post. Screengaze will be the new thing. Producers, I want to hear from you.
Here’s a free polysynth built entirely inside Unreal Engine 5
How much can Unreal Engine and MetaSounds accomplish? Developer/artist Matt Spendlove has built a complete open-source polysynth in it, roughly recreating the AudioKit Synth One using Unreal’s internal tools.
Journey to early 2000s Indian music via an electronic media zine
From the files of the lost corners of the Internet, here’s a musical snapshot of electronic music composition in India in the early 2000s, in all its Korg Triton-fueled glory. It’s all via a zine delivered on CD-ROM as the Indian Documentary of Electronic Arts.
AbuQadim Haqq’s 33 Years of Techno Art and Afrofuturism, book and music
Detroit native AbuQadim Haqq, the artist who gave form to the Drexciyan Empire and helped craft the visual identity of Transmat, Planet E, and Underground Resistance, has put 33 years of that imagination into an art book and compilation project.