Roland SP-404MKII power up: loop capture, Koala integration, lots more

Happy 404 Day, indeed. Roland has a huge update to the SP-404MKII, adding some of the best of the Roland stable to turn the 404 into a live-looping, sampling, multitrack-exporting, bassline-making, app-connected powerhouse – and it finally grooves. Plus, in a surprise twist, Roland is connecting to the third-party Koala iOS/Android app. Let’s break down 4.04.

Normcore, hard techno: The Last DJ is the influencer we need right now

Imagine your Dad/Granddad. Imagine the corner home office. Now imagine he’s got an Elektron Syntakt and he’s making the most brutal EBM and techno. You’re getting the picture: meet Nick Hayes, aka The Last DJ.

Free ChucK sound coding is now in Unreal Engine – and it’s a big deal

What happens when ChucK, the free elegant and fast sound coding environment, comes to Unreal Engine, the free-for-most-users game engine that’s also a motion graphics and live audiovisual tool? Nerdy magic, that’s what — a reason to turn off your phone alerts and hide and make the immersive AV world of your dreams. Or pretend you’re a Stanford student. It’s … Chunreal!

Spectral Plugins are now free as maker goes out of business

Spectral Plugins, a relatively young plugin maker, has announced the end of its business. They’re making their three excellent plugins available for free download, complete with macOS and Windows VST2/VST3/AU/AAX support, so grab them while you can.

Ethereal demoscene creations, animation from scroll bars, at Revision 2024

Demoscene culture continues to produce more with less, producing elaborate audiovisual worlds from tiny amounts of code. Revision is a hub for these kinds of creations, and in 2024, it delivers as always – including, incredibly, an animation made just from HTML scrollbar code. (Seriously.)

Amiga 500 as a real-time guitar effects pedal: Magical Synth Adventure

Dedicated Amiga lover Paulee Alex Bow is back with another terrific episode of Magical Synth Adventure – and this time, they’re using Amiga software as live processing for guitar, with delicious results.

Andrius Mamontovas’ haunting “Bottled Wind” records war, week by week

Lithuanian composer and musician Andrius Mamontovas has a chillingly beautiful LP on the Ukrainian-run label I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free, under the project name Dots On The Sun.

Collage 2.01 effects playground plug-in adds user-requested features

Kalide Systems’ unique effects playground and custom effects toolkit Collage got a nice update recently, full of user-requested features—some from comments here on CDM. Here’s a look, plus a couple of quick effects to download and play with.

Digital-analog delay, unchained: Sinevibes Integer (and free presets)

Just when you think you can’t hear any new noises from a delay, along comes Sinevibes Integer, drawing on classic bucket brigade delays to create something retro and futuristic all at once. We’ve also got an extra CDM-exclusive preset bank to explore more.

macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 includes bug fixes for plug-ins, USB, Java

Apple has released macOS Sonoma 14.4.1. As verified by some plug-in developers, this includes fixes for an issue that could cause plug-ins to fail. It also includes important fixes for USB hubs and Java.