Build smart, custom mechanical keyboards for MIDI – or really tiny Ableton Live control

John Park of DIY boutique Adafruit seems to be having some serious fun with tiny mechanical keypads – as hackable, ultra-compact MIDI controllers and (with screen) even the tiniest Ableton Live controller I’ve ever seen.

Sequential’s Pro 3 gets new wavetables from some wild sources, and patch morphing

Sequential, the house Dave Smith built, keeps cramming extras into their instruments for free. Which is their flagship, exactly? Who knows? Who cares? The Pro 3 just got a lot cooler.

Xanadu is a meta-metaverse DIY show hosted by a blue alien made in Unreal Engine

What happens when you cross 3D tutorial, machinima animation, and Unreal Engine’s MetaHuman Creator human capture tools? Well, a bunch of stuff, but maybe the most promising is a how-to show hosted in the tools.

Japan officially leads in 3D trompe-l’œil cat projections

Yes, yes, Olympics, all that. At least Shinjuku is establishing just the leadership we would expect in making enormous projected cats peer out from buildings in eerily realistic ways.

So yeah, let’s just use plug and socket – industry group recommends obvious change in terminology

The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance industry group is leading an effort to finally get rid of “male” and “female” connector terminology and replace it with something not horrible.

Freespin is a demo made for the Commodore 1541 – no, not the computer, just the floppy drive

Artists just did the unthinkable – make a complete audiovisual demo on just a 1982 floppy drive, without the computer. And it’s utterly beautiful.

Audacity makers clarify data usage – and there’s not reason to dump the editor yet

In a cycle echoing a controversy earlier this year, Audacity’s new parent again released new legal terms which were then seized upon by social media users. Muse Group have clarified those issues publicly and to CDM.

Erica and Sonic Potions LXR-02 drum synth-sequencer is here

The cult classic Sonic Potions LXR-01 kit finally gets a worthy follow-up – the LXR-02, made in collaboration with Erica Synths. It’s a digital drum synth + FX + sequencer in one very compact unit.

Get free presets and tutorials each month from veteran sound designer Tom Wolfe

Tom, who has worked with the likes of Arturia, Kilohearts, GForce, and some Grammy and Oscar winners, writes to let us know about the Synth Vault – 20 free preset each month, plus tutorials to learn how to go beyond them.

Beirut 20/21 presents a music production scene in its own image, with Khyam Allami

In a time of crisis atop crisis, we’ve followed the diverse musical voices of Beirut artists as they found a way to keep making music. Here, as part of a larger project and assembled by musician and tuning champion Khyam Allami, is a sampling of music from this past year.