Selestium Modular isn’t quite like other modular makers – creator Adriana Knouf imagines an extraterrestrial dig on which this creation was unearthed. Add rubber bands and pluck away: the results are otherworldly.

With insistent phasing tones ringing in your ears in phasing, tense microtonal tunings, sawing timbres in the background, Sote’s Ministry of Tall Tales for SVBKVLT opens immediately with deep-inflicted wounds. The artist Ata Ebtekar talks to us about desperate mental states as we try to share that pain with the video for “Lips Seeking the Forbidden.”

Alana Balagot whipped this one up and – it’s a gem. The challenge: fit a completely functional MIDI keyboard onto a board the size of a credit or business card, and let it work with anything (USB-C, class compliant). The result: MidiCard.

Ornament & Crime is the open module that basically is a computer – but a very elegant, minimalistic one. And with the actively developed Phazerville firmware, it keeps getting more superpowers, all on a module platform you can buy affordably or make yourself. Here’s a snapshot of how active that Phazerville development is, as version 1.7 drops.

The One Who Runs Away Is The Ghost sees an electronics market in Shenzen through two young sisters’ eyes – a world of ghosts and monsters. It was the perfect opportunity for the equally fantastic Imaginarium of Hainbach’s electronic music compositions. He talks to us about his process and the connection between machines, memory, and the curiosity of children (including his younger self).

Bring that FM drum synthesis in the box, too: ALM/Busy Circuits have made their first soft synth. Akemie’s Taiko Eurorack module is reimagined as a six-voice FM drum synth with step sequencer. And it’s delightful; here’s a quick hands-on guide.

If the February doldrums have you, Plugin Boutique has some last-minute software sales now, including a big deal on an SH-101 clone from Softube and 95% off a bundle from Universal Audio. And that could very affordably get you a nice synth fix.

Collage is a vast collection of effects based on some 43 processors you can quickly turn into your own custom effects, complete with a colorful interface maker. It’s creative and unique enough that you might just miss how much is there. Here’s a complete walkthrough of what’s inside.

Samplr remains one of the most satisfying musical apps for iPad – a multitouch sample recording and manipulation tool. And now it adds MIDI control, meaning you have even more reason to take this into live situations.

In the face of daily violence and massacres delivered in near real-time to our phones, musical artists are finding ways to find one another and be named. Compilations in solidarity with Palestinians take on a new urgency — as a way to weave threads between people.