Surgeon’s Shell~Wave easily tops my favorite techno records from 2025, a nice return to form for Tresor Records. But as we’re awash in generated artwork, let’s devote our own brain cycles instead to listening to Surgeon talk to Taiwanese artist Jazz Szu-Ying Chen about the craft of making this album cover by hand.

We have updated hardware classics, so why not software? Absynth’s original creator, Brian Clevinger, weighs in on what motivates his instrument creations and what strikes emotional resonance. From Native Instruments, Hannah Lockwood joins to talk about the user interface and the collaboration.

Back in green: three years after Native Instruments announced its demise, Absynth 6 makes an unexpected return from the dead. What we get is not just a rerelease, but the biggest update for the polysynth in its history, with everything from new filters and engine enhancements to a new UI and MPE. Early review: this is a polysynth you need to explore all over again — or discover for the first time.

It’s the 12 Days of Soundtoys: the Burlington-based developer is giving away one of its excellent audio effects every 48 hours, free (a total of six plug-ins). That’s on top of their existing sale. The freebies kick off today with Little PrimalTap, a retro delay with extra time warping, looping, distortion, and sound-transforming powers.

They gathered for 24 hours in 70 live coding performances from around the world. Now Algorave has a 55-track album “full of really great music and noise from the live coding/algorithmic music community, fundraising to support Palestinian health, dignity, and culture.” All that plus extra videos from their recent livestream and more. At a time when computer tech is all about extraction, it’s refreshing to see an actual community that’s using code to give.

If you didn’t get the chance to grab Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals and were hoping to stock up, there’s still a chance on some music gear, software, and plug-ins (with a couple I missed that expire tonight). Here are a few of the best options. Hardware First, Reverb has up to 80% off […]

Quick! Your modular/synth/contact mic/pot-and-pan is making amazing sounds, and you want to capture them for fast 1-shots/drum racks. And you hate the tedious editing/naming admin! Robert Henke’s new Sample Capture is for you — and it’s free, for Ableton Live 12 and Max for Live.

My hips are sad. These promos are not moving them; they’re squashed to hell, grooveless, and it’s about as fun to dance to as an Airbus engine drone.* I know how to solve this: N.A.A.F.I, the Mexico-based international label with its unique voice and rhythms patterned on the likes of tribal guarachero, spun by its family of producers into deeply personal bangers.

Pam’s back in town, and she’s learned a new language. ALM/Busy Circuits’ “Pamela’s Disco” sports an Ethernet jack for PRO DJ-LINK — that’s the sync format found on CDJs and other Pioneer DJ/AlphaTheta equipment and compatible gear. You read that right: now your modular has a sync button.

Move over, recycled ideas and emulations: it’s been a year of reimagining entire effects categories. And ADPTR Audio’s Utopia stands out in a 2025 class of reverbs that are more than just reverbs. Here’s a look at why it’s an effect I can’t put down, why it’s so much fun to tweak, and how the developers thought about it.