You think you know the 808? Listen to how Mr. Tadeo Kikumoto, Roland’s lead developer at the time, talks about what went into the machine. That walks through origins, from kick to claps, in this excerpt from the book Inspire the Music: 50 Years of Roland History, thanks to publisher Bjooks.

Four artists/researchers, three collectives: Leilani Hermiasih, Ari Wulu, Andreas Siagian, and Wok The Rock; Gayam 16, Instrumentasia, and Yes No Klub. Starting today through August 17, they’re launching the first GAUNG electronic and experimental music festival in Yogyakarta, switching on a “power station” for the scene across Indonesia. It’s a different way to run a festival — even a different way to understand what a festival is — so let’s take a look at what they’re doing.

Cinematic Laboratory has produced two films that are so beautiful, you can almost put them on as a soundtrack and visual atmosphere. Meet VHIKK X by FORGE TIME / Glasgow Synth Guild, and Kharper from ERROR Instruments.

“Art is a struggle against nothingness,” says Pharoos from Hormuz. TIMEZONES, the series produced by Norient, we’ve visited before. Their planned June episode on Tehran was delayed by war. Now is a perfect time to take in its threads, woven from multiple voices in a narrative that flows gently, as if in a breeze.

It’s a hot Max for Live summer: here are three more don’t-miss tools for Max for Live for you. There’s a tool to bounce MIDI without the usual manual legwork. There’s a controller app that lets you play Live with gamepads. And there’s the synth follow-up to the blockbuster acid sequencer Sting! Let’s go:

DJ software should make managing your music library easier — in theory. In practice, the leading DJ apps have been pretty stuck in their ways for a while now. Serato is answering users’ pleas with a redesigned library in the new Serato DJ Pro 4.0 release, available in public beta.

Summer sales are on, and even with more trade tariff uncertainty looming in the USA, that includes some surprising cut-rate deals on hardware synths. Here’s your guide to some favorites, including a great mini keyboard/Moog soft synth bundle.

The all-new architecture for macOS VJ mainstay VDMX6 has opened up a ton of powerful new features. If you haven’t caught them already, and you’ve got a Mac, now is a great time to dive in. Why not cosplay Hari Seldon from Foundation and turn yourself into a glitchy hologram?

“The future is now … you have to do everything you can to actually make it stop now. You have to persist with your faith and also your practice.” In a film released today, Palestinian musician and sound artist Dirar Kalash reflects on stopping genocide and the nature of sound and humanity. Fellow composer Sami El-Enany directs and pieces together the sonic story.

Rattle the walls and rumble the foundation with this one. Kinlaw & Franco Franco, the Amman-Bristol duo, have a release coming on Jordanian underground imprint Drowned By Locals, and it’s powerful enough to part seas.