Feed yourself with a free cookbook from Korg and the electronic music and synth community

Here’s a different sort of compilation and synth collaboration – KORG Germany in Berlin invited the likes of Joan La Barbara, Suzanne Ciani, Alva Noto, Dave Smith, and a lot of us relative newcomers, too, to make a cookbook. And it’s free to download.

Scene flashback – a who’s who of Detroit techno, circa 1997 on MTV

Simone Angel from MTV Party Zone did an extended set of interviews with the Detroiters in 1997. And it’s honestly about as many people from this scene as you can cram into one place. If I had posted this this time last year, it might have felt like nostalgia. But now 1997 feels roughly the […]

Valhalla Supermassive is the reverb at the end of the universe – and it’s free

How big is it? The latest from developer Sean Costello has networks of delays up to two seconds – as in, each delay – for lush shorter reverberation all the way to epic stretches of minutes at a time.

Arturia recreates Oberheim OB-Xa – and it’s somehow even more massive

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. […]

This design company made the illusion of ocean waves trapped in architecture

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 20.7 adds MIDI Scripting, new music video tools, in latest free update

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 […]

How to update your Mac to Mojave – not Catalina – for the new Logic and more

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 current MPC matures as gear hub, with new MPC Live II hardware and 2.8 software

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 […]

Metagrid 1.5 gives your iPad shortcuts for everything – DAW, notation, Ableton Live

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.

Dark emotions pour out of quarantine-themed compilation from Moscow’s Kotä

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.