Arturia today has unveiled a software reproduction of the epic OB-Xa – and it might feel as powerful in 2020 as the original did in 1980. I would presume there are two major markets for remakes and clones of past synths. You’ve got people wanting to use the instruments of some of their favorite artists. […]

Korean-headquartered d’strict produced this digital architecture via “anamorphic illusion.” As it’s been making the rounds, let’s look at what’s going on – and yeah, move over, projection mapping. The accelerating commoditization of LED walls – and their particular presence in rapidly-expanding Asia – is making a new kind of architecturally expanded reality. This particular illusion is […]

FL Studio just never slows down. The latest free update offers new MIDI scripting features opening up more hands-on controller support – and new powers to make your own music videos, among other add-ons. FL is funny, in that it just does so much. There are tiny little toys that wind up proving to be […]

Unless you have brand new Mac hardware, it’s likely you want to run macOS Mojave for now for greater compatibility. Here’s how to do it (including links to advice for when your App Store isn’t cooperating).

Akai’s recent 2.8 software offers some powerful new features – and a revised MPC Live II could be a sweet spot in hardware, with expanded connectivity and built-in speakers. And finally, you get MIDI multi capability, like on the classic MPCs. Here’s the rundown. The demands for a digital drum machine/production workstation are now pretty […]

Sure, theoretically you should memorize a bunch of keyboard shortcuts and painstakingly map macros for tools you use every day. Or you could use Metagrid instead.

The strangest thing about the pandemic moment may be its incongruous surface of normality. That’s where music can play a role. From Russia and beyond come some beautifully frightening sounds.

The Live Loops grid in Apple’s new Logic Pro X 10.5 has a hardware controller – and you might even own it already. Apple includes plug-and-play support for the Novation Launchpad line in the latest Logic. It’s a new angle on launching sound and patterns – well, literally and figuratively. You’ll want to physically rotate […]

First seen as a Moogfest workshop, the Subharmonicon is coming to the rest of us. And it’s a chance to explore timbre, rhythm, and pattern in new ways, via knobs or patching. We go deep with its creator into the ideas that inspired it. And yeah, that will take us beyond just chatting about ladder […]

Apple is adding Live Loops, as predicted and leaked. But the new release of Logic Pro X is far more than that, with new workflows for sampling, looping, and beatmaking on the Mac and with the iPad.