Polyend had a blissful 2020, but they’re not done yet – Tracker, Preset, Medusa updates

Polyend’s beloved Tracker finishes out the year with a pitch-perfect update – and homebrew gaming. And there are updates for their Preset module for Eurorack and the brilliant Medusa synthesizer hardware, too.

Arturia’s Juno-6 chorus recreation is free this week as a plug-in

It’s one of the all-time great chorus effects – and now you can bite off just the chorus of the Roland Juno and use it as an effect, for free, with this giveaway from Arturia. We’ve got that – and one competing free chorus, for good measure!

Free Eurorack holiday – all these Instruo modules are now on VCV Rack; here’s a guide

Modular Santa Claus is here, just in the Nick of time. Boutique Scottish Eurorack maker Instruo is dropping a big range of modules in virtual form on VCV Rack – for free. Here’s what’s inside and where to get started.

Don’t miss an epic live set from Giant Swan, and more of their rich sound world

Let’s put all the gear news aside and consider – people are doing wonderful things with sound live. Consider the duo of Giant Swan, whose intense multi-layered performances seem to fuel the same transcendent energy of their releases.

OP-Z VJ: app from Teenage Engineering adds video powers

The OP-Z’s ultra-minimalist, candybar form factor hides some serious synthesis, sampling, and audiovisual powers – and now new live visual/VJ functions, too.

With Endlesss Studio, sampling, riffing, collaboration connect from mobile to Mac

We’ve seen plenty of efforts to make it easy to build song ideas from samples and loops on mobile. With a Mac launch, Endlesss now does what it set out to do – make those sound materials connect everywhere.

Bitwig adds a free 808 – multisampled and 808 bass and Grid patch ready

Bitwig’s new 808 freebie is massively multisampled and uniquely integrated with Bitwig Studio – which opens up the possibility of playing bass lines on it or integrating it with modular patches in The Grid.

NVIDIA Omniverse hit beta, and all your creative 3D worlds just got more connected

NVIDIA’s Omniverse is in open beta. Even saying what it is is hard to do because something like this hasn’t really existed before, but now working together on 3D in real-time got way easier. And if 2020 demonstrated anything, it demonstrated how much creative technology needs that collaboration to progress.

Free 606 Koncept drum plug-in for Windows – with extras

The free stuff keeps coming. Now for PC users on any 64-bit VST host, you get a banging remake of the TR-606 drum machine – with some interesting twists.

The gorgeous boutique Roland Juno hardware recreation meant to work only with a plug-in

When arguing merits of vintage synth reproduction, invoking a “plug-in” is often a derogatory slur. Not here – this high-end boutique hardware is made to work with software alone.