Switch 2, sure, but — have you plugged a tiny piano into a Nintendo DS and used some powerful homebrew software and custom scripts to make a handheld experimental music instrument?

It’s about time. British synthesis history can get short shrift compared to the legends of the USA and Japan. Alex Ball has made the documentary that the Novation Bass Station deserves, from its roots with EDP and OSC, to the massive bass synth’s 1992 debut, up to the present day.

AirWindows, if you aren’t already in the know, is a planetary treasure. Developer Chris Johnson has built a massive playground of DSP, available for free/Patreon donationware. And this time, he’s created something he says is “not normal.” What was supposed to be a brutal guitar sound went off the rails. But don’t let that stop you from getting onboard.

K-Devices’ Fauve is an idiosyncratic, exquisite audio effect that the developers describe as “fractured memory” — a glitchy, audio-slicing, granular-adjacent sonic fragmentation tool. There’s nothing quite like this “flawed audio reconstructor.” Let’s break down how it works, especially with the effect on sale now.

Monomono Maya may be the dreamiest Max for Live device we’ve seen yet, with full MPE and aftertouch support. With Push 3 standalone compatibility, this could also be a strong argument to building a computer-free Live rig, too.

It’s summer, and while you might expect intrepid visual software developers to be away on holiday, the always prolific Resolume team has dropped a big update. Resolume 7.23 has performance improvements, new and improved Wire nodes, and something wonderful called parameter animation presets.

Soundtoys is here with the 5.5 upgrade of their flagship suite, plus a free update for everyone with resizable UIs. Here’s a breakdown of what’s new, what’s free, what’s paid, and more. And there’s a sale on, too.

Your donations in March, both internationally and in Ukraine, helped purchase a Honda SUV for John Object’s former unit in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We have a glimpse of that vehicle and a chance to hear more of Timur’s fantastic music — this time, to help buy a VW Transporter. They really need this, this is the reality for Ukrainian music, and your help makes a difference.

It’s time again for that trip-to-the-candy-store feeling with VCV Rack: the Eurorack rush without spending anything at all. Since our last episode, we’ve gotten new 4ms Roland-style drums, some unique stuff from Venom, a trio of chaotic oscillators, and a sequencer inspired by the legendary HP 8006A Word Generator. Hands-on with these open-source creations — let’s go!

We’ve followed musicians in Palestine for years. Now the situation is an emergency. Palestinians are facing forced starvation. There’s not much to add beyond this message from Ahmed Muin of Gaza Birds Singing: the music stops. Let food in now. Ahmed’s silence is a call to end our own.