Channeling pain and ecstasy, from dance and avant-garde and genres newly brewed, Abadir to Cinthie to Lamin Fofana to patten to Pole, summer brings more spectacular ways to fill your hard drives and souls with music.

It’s difficult to find an escape when pandemic and political unrest confine you to an Internet overwhelmed with the same. So – just use a fake Internet. With a fake 90s music sequencer and page builder. Seriously.

When Earth seems to lack perspective, call on a Saturnian. And it’s a perfect time the Sun Ra Arkestra is back, and the Outer Space Visual Communicator is running, too.

“In music, you’re basically having a conversation…” Sometimes that conversation is best expressed in 8 bits.

The fine plug-in-smith of Valhalla gives us another free plug-in. And this time, it’s a gorgeous flanger / doubling effect, perfect for thickening up your tracks.

Discover the wonders of the QUAD ALGORITHMIC RHYTHM module from Frozen Wasteland. We’ll learn how to compose rhythms, trigger them live, and more – all with free modules and VCV Rack.

Those gnarly Dreadbox analog oscillators and filters keep popping up in new places. This time, it’s a collaboration with Sinevibes – and it makes for a compact, jam-friendly, portable synth for 349 EUR.

Finally, it’s the software distortion we’ve been waiting for. No silly graphics, no fake hardware effects, no blunt-instrument processing. Thermal is distortion as actual sound design tool.

Like it or not, we’re now in it for the long haul as post-human isolated COVID-19 creatures. Here’s a soundtrack project to help you find refuge – and a guide to remaking your virtual face, and what it might mean.

Okay, you’re ready to play a live set in front of a camera and stream. Or you want to finally finish some songs by actually playing. Here’s the solution – ready for your hardware grid.