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.

Live screenshot showing fully-expanded Roar saturation/coloration tool, including multiband processing.

Twelve things to try in Ableton Live 12 right now

Live 12 is here – so now what? Here are twelve other ideas to try out, from timesavers to inspiration sources.

Live 12 is here, including Performance Pack and new tuning site

Ableton Live 12 is now out of beta – plus both the Performance Pack and a tuning site available to everyone (with or without Live). Here’s a review of everything to know.

303 day: minisite, Roland and Serato 303, 606 control vinyl and music

There’s no new hardware from Roland for 303 Day, but what we get instead is music – a minisite, a mix, a vinyl pressing (really), and records that double as control vinyl for Serato. It comes with sounds courtesy artists J. Rocc, Fast Eddie, Shadow Child and DJ Haus. And if you just want to have your own 303 party right now, there’s a mix from J. Rocc.

Arturia Pigments 5 audio input: video tutorial, tips and tricks, free presets

Pigments 5 from Arturia adds the ability to route audio input into soft synth, opening up new sound design possibilities and turning Pigments into a multi-effects plug-in for any source. Here’s a detailed guide on how to use it, with notes – and some presets to get you going.

Submerge and Underground Resistance mini-doc: techno from the source

The musical revolution led by underground Black artists in Detroit has brought Roland back to the source. An editorial team from the Japanese gear giant goes inside the story of Submerge and Underground Resistance.

Noise Engineering Legio grows again; Sinc Legio is Bride of Sinc Iter

Noise Engineering continues to revive beloved and now-unavailable modules from their back catalog, thanks to their updateable firmware platforms. But Sinc Legio is more like a sequel, with internal modulation, new algorithms, and stereo chorus atop the original’s formula of phase modulation, hard sync, and wavefolding.

Listen: Falyakon, between Berlin and Ramallah, with an urgent music mix

Palestinian multi-instrumentalist and experimental DJ Falyakon has long been an inspiration to anyone who’s met her – for her energy, her vision, and the depth of feeling and activism threaded into her music mixes. We were fortunate to have her in the Refuge Worldwide studio over the weekend, in a mix that says what no opinion piece or social media post can.