It’s a world of overabundant music and disappearing press, lockdowns and empty venues, endless production up against algorithmic listeners. But no mind: free those tracks, anyway.
Music
RIP Dax Pierson, Árni Grétar Jóhannesson aka Futuregrapher
Music January 6, 2025
Lists aside, these 2024 albums are personal must-listens
Music Reviews Stories December 31, 2024
Saying goodbye to 2024 with music and reflections: David’s picks
Music Reviews Stories December 31, 2024
Intimate portraits of music-making for times of isolation and futurism
For all the video portraits of music-making out there, this series for The Disappearance of Music is something special – and might just inspire you in your own solo creation.
Lockdown mapping: MadMapper + streaming tutorial, featuring NVIDIA Broadcast
It’s cold outside for much of the world now, and crowds are a no-no. But show off your projection mapping skills while streaming – and be on top of gigs when they come back. Our friends at MadMapper show us how.
Cherry’s CA2600 is a perfect ARP 2600 for $25 – here’s a tour
This could be the easiest and most inexpensive way to put the epic 1971 semi-modular synth in your rig. Cherry Audio has a killer ARP 2600 recreation – and it costs only US$25.
Capture the lockdown mood with these short, poetic indie horror games
Architecture and topography themselves become horror in these underground experimental games – titles you can play with a few minutes in the dark.
Reason for the Season: Free sound packs, inspiration, and … carve a pumpkin
Let’s be honest – days are dark in the wrong ways now. Here are some free Halloween sound packs and a software update for Reason to give you some inspiration – plus a pumpkin carving game, just because.
Pure Data is running in the browser, for free Web-based sound patching
It’s just an alpha version, but it’s already impressive: the open source visual programming tools Pd is running in a browser window, even with externals.
The VJ play: InMusic buys ArKaos, live visual developer
From the VJ M&A file: ArKaos, the pioneering developer of live audiovisual tools, has been snapped up by InMusic. That puts this VJ name alongside brands like Akai, Numark, and M-Audio.
Moog Werkstatt-01 is a $199 analog synth world to explore, hack, and patch
We may be unable to go anywhere this year, but the Moog synth class is coming to us. Moog’s Werkstatt-01 analog synth kit packs a ton of analog sound capabilities into a $199 package.
Teenage Engineering vs. Capcom: Street Fighter Sampler, anyone?
Hadouken! Teenage Engineering is partnering with game legends Capcom to bring Megaman and Street Fighter to their Pocket Operator instruments. The Swedish gear maker’s mobile line always had a lineage from classic gaming – think Nintendo’s Game & Watch series. But Teenagers love Capcom, so they cold-called the Japanese giant and resident game audio guru […]