Emmanuel De La Paix on nature in mirrors, essence of clouds [LP, gallery]

Enter a meditative world of images of the “invisible essence” of things, as tranquil as an Alpine pool or wispy cirrus cloud. Multi-instrumentalist Emmanuel De La Paix teams up with engineer Jón Þór Birgisson (Jónsi, Sigur Rós) for a sublimely calm new LP, The Physics of Clouds.

Don’t upgrade to macOS Sonoma 14.4 yet: plug-in compatibility issues

macOS Sonoma remains stable, but a change reportedly related to AU plug-in validation in the recent 14.4 update can cause compatibility issues. With no significant reason to rush to upgrade, that means you should delay until plug-in developers have updates.

LFO device in Max over top an Ableton Live session, showing the Presentation view. The Freeze button (set to unfreeze to allow editing).

Ableton has a new free guide to making better Max for Live devices

Ableton is today releasing an exhaustive free guide full of resources they’ve used internally in developing and maintaining devices. The guide has a ton of advice, so it’s a chance to benefit from Ableton’s experience.

Resolume 7.19: Quick Search, workflow improvements, rotate text

Leading the live visual world, Resolume Arena/Avenue continues to keep up its brisk update cadence. This latest version lets you search for stuff Spotlight-style, speeds up workflow, and oh yeah, you can finally rotate text.

Sarah Sommers’ debut is a deep journey through live sets, all in custom pink

Behind all the meticulous electric-pink customization, the debut full-length from self-identified “bimbo princess” Sarah Sommers is a return to deep, smart techno, made live the old-school way. Glammed-up synths meets stripped-down production.

Polyend’s Tracker Mini adds stereo sampling features, clock improvements

Polyend’s Tracker Mini got a big firmware update today, including stereo line-in sample recording and other stereo sampling features, and much-anticipated internal clock accuracy improvements. Mod import is back in beta, too.

FACTS report: women, nonbinary artists still face inequality at festivals

In the latest volunteer-run FACTS study, women and nonbinary artists are making steady, if slow, progress in representation across festivals. But the larger the festival, the less balanced the gender representation. This is the sixth FACTS report run by volunteers from the female:pressure network, published today on International Women’s Day (which is now a holiday […]

Free Sosir plug-in, experimental bowing effect, is a deep drone machine

Sosir Freeze-Delay is a free “experimental” plug-in for macOS (Intel/Apple Silicon) and Windows (AU/VST3), intended to give you bowing effects with guitar inputs. It’s beautiful for that, but also creates a range of freeze/delay effects, some beyond just the standard infinite reverb. Let the dark ambient drones commence.

Softube’s VCA Compressor is free in March; here’s why it’s cool

We are awash in vintage compressor plug-ins, but Softube’s VCA Compressor is worth an extra look – and not just because it’s free.

Portable recorder/looper on its side with a rainbow background behind it. White with knobs and wooden buttons, a large speaker grill, and a gooseneck mic protruding perpendicular to the front panel.

Critter and Guitari Kaleidoloop, portable looper, is back with new features

Kaleidoloop, an adorable portable looper/recorder, is back with a compact form factor plus a software update that delivers new modes, layering, and more. It’s now also a unique playback/effect that you can customize yourself with Pd.