Free for your inspiration: new Max for Live devices, Ableton Creative Strategies e-book

Deals and offers are all over the place, but what will actually help you get over creative block and make something? These free Ableton Live add-ons and an invaluable book make a great place to start.

Wander an indie game gallery, play in dystopian pixelated worlds, free online

A free browser tool has created pixelated universes from games to zines – and a Pittsburgh gallery is celebrating with a show you can visit from your browser.

Get Asymmetric with a ton of back-catalog Inigo Kennedy downloads, free

Another world, another time, in the age of … well, back when MP3 encoding still seemed like a pretty neat idea. Discover years of back-catalog goodies from Inigo Kennedy, and have a dreamy asymmetrical day.

Pairing mode: music to listen to right now – a new series

Ed.: Pairing mode is a new series focused on music to which we feel connection – mostly new, some back catalogs, all stuff we’re listening to. And maybe that’s the most essential way to approach music, finding what excites us. Resident music editor David Abravanel launches his new column.

Spin abstract geometries from your music, with Ableton Live visualizers by artist Arash Azadi

Many of us imagine visuals when we close our eyes and listen to music. Here are two devices you can drop directly into Ableton Live to make that happen – from an artist whose work weaves together visual and sonic realms.

Not in C: transform pitch with Scale-O-Mat for Ableton Live [M4L/Suite]

120 bpm. 4/4. C major. Yawn. What if you could use those same Ableton Live project defaults to do something different? A new Max for Live devices dares you to do just that.

Kero and Defasten made our virus dreams into a futuristic music video (CDM premieres)

What do you do when you can’t get a virus off your mind? Channel that into a bioscience audio-vision of immunity that reflects that new reality. We talk to Defasten and Kero about their music video for “Lodge.”

Control free streaming tool OBS Studio with OSC – and more essential tricks

Control live streaming and recording tool OBS Studio with other apps and tools, and route video live. Free add-ons make it all possible.

Uganda’s Afrorack goes from modular synths to a DIY disinfectant; more efforts worldwide

Brian Bamanya made a name making DIY modular synths, but now he’s applying voltage to another task – making sodium hypochlorite (aka bleach). Science! That joins a growing number of efforts of DIYers turning to fight the pandemic head-on.

Holodeck DJ: I played techno on an XR stage – here’s what it was like

There are cameras. There’s video and 3D. What happens when you create a futuristic mixed reality space that combines them, live? I headed to a cavernous northern New Jersey warehouse to find out.