Since sound is a wave, there are, uh, resonances between audio and fluid dynamics. And that brings us to playground swings and how not to spill your coffee. Let’s let Oxford PhD math student Sophie Abrahams explain the research done by original author Jiwon Han.
Music
In Tbilisi, music is on pause because democracy is on the line
Music Stories October 25, 2024
In music video, Lebanese duo Rust captures emotions of “Diaspora”
Music October 11, 2024
Go support these Lebanese releases on Bandcamp
Music October 4, 2024
Threads from Mexicali to Amman, mix and sampler with FAX’s Facade Electronics
If you need sonic architecture to hold emotions beyond words, look no further to this poignant sampler by the underrated Facade Electronics, the label by FAX out of Mexicali, Mexico. It’s brought together by feeling as much as something superficial like genre. I had the same sense of connections to producers I care about in contributing a mix this fall.
Mourning Álvaro Ruiz, visionary Mexican electronic music producer
Late last week, we learned of the passing of a legend of electronic music production, Mexico’s Álvaro Ruiz Mayagoitia. His wide-ranging talent across various aliases (Balboa, Ruisort) should have gotten far wider recognition outside of Mexico. It turned with ease from glitchy experimental minimalism to hip-hop electronica to soundtracks, his imagination simply refused to be confined to a single form of expression.
Lofi Oddity is a beautiful free “degradation toy box” plug-in
Lofi Oddity for macOS and Windows features a unique set of sonic degradation filters – and makes an excellent tour of the work plugin maker aberrant dsp is doing on modeling nonlinearities and destruction.
C4NDY KeyVLM, a USB keyboard that connects to a vinyl turntable for mixing
Make your transition into this: it’s the intersection of a love of custom DIY USB keyboards, computers and mobile devices, turntables, and vinyl mixing. Yamamoto Shunichi shares their creation, C4NDY KeyVLM, an ortholinear-layout keyboard for combining mobile digital and vinyl sets.
LANDR, AI-powered mastering, all grown-up: plug-in test
LANDR’s machine learning-powered mastering service is now more than a simple web tool. The quality of the results has matured over years of development, and you can opt for a plug-in version with a complete set of tweakable controls. So, is the current offering worth considering, even if you know what you’re doing with mastering tools?
A year in music: don’t-miss releases, unsung gems, unhyped breakthroughs
In difficult times, paying attention to music can be an act of humanity. We turn to music not because it attracts attention, but because we want to fill our ears and souls. From Indonesia-to-Mexico collaborations to resurfacing legends, Mongolian hip hop to rethought AI, David Abravanel is back with a personal set of selections to round out the year.
Chill out to some granular goodness in Modular Play on Playdate portable
Creator Orllewin didn’t just produce a magical minimalistic modular in glorious black and white on Panic’s Playdate mobile system. There is beautiful music to go along with it – and an upcoming free port to Lua (meaning support for other platforms).
Suzanne Ciani’s YouTube is a treasure trove, and she’s uploading more now
Want to fill your YouTube feed with basically all synthesizer legend Suzanne Ciani, all the time? Now’s a great time to click subscribe, as she’s uploading an incredible amount of music. (Eat your heart out, Aphex Twin.) Also, can we pause and just consider that she wrote an incredible composition for a beeping GE dishwasher?
This free Reaktor granular instrument was born in a vintage synth studio
System Flow for Reaktor 6 features a 32-grain, two-sample-slot granular engine for producing drones and textures – and it’s completely free. It was all born at Synthesizer Studio Berlin, a rentable studio full of classic vintage analog and early digital synths.