Today, Plogue is launching chipsynth C64, an AAX/AU/VST3/CLAP plug-in recreation of the Commodore 64/128 and its legendary 1982 SID chip (and successors). No one else could create an emulation this obsessive. After just a few minutes with it, it feels like encountering an entirely new instrument that fell straight out of a past decade. It’s likely to enchant both nostalgic C64 fans and those discovering chip music for the first time.

Ableton has announced that their Upgrade Kit for Push 3 is now available. With the launch, they’ve also released two videos, covering the upgrade process and their approach to making their hardware upgradeable.

Moog’s Mariana is here on desktop (macOS, Windows) and iOS and – it’s about as much Moog sound as you can imagine in software. Here’s what’s in that architecture, some hands-on first impressions, plus details of a significant update for the Moogerfooger software effect range that goes perfectly with the synth.

This is what many drum machine fans were waiting for: following their remade 909, D16 has its 808 plug-in reboot, and it looks and sounds gorgeous. Here’s what’s new.

Music consolidation continues – even beyond what we might have imagined. Hal Leonard is “joining” software maker Muse Group in a “partnership” (read: merger, but with separate operations, they say). Private equity giant Francisco Partners, the same company behind the NI – Plugin Alliance – iZotope conglomerate, is providing the investment.

The Synthstrom Audible Deluge, a grid-based synth/sequencer/sampler, has its first official open-source, community-developed firmware – “and it’s huge,” the makers say. There are new views, new effects, new modulation, and more.

Our long-time friends at ШЩЦ, Kyiv-born collective now based in London, have an emotional, diverse compilation out now that “celebrates the spirit of winter.” It also memorializes their late community member Maksym Ostyak, who died defending Ukraine.

Behold the sonic possibilities of the “depths of the mathematical universe.” Eccentric, prolific software developer Alexander Zolotov (NightRadio) is back from the reaches of space with a crazy new app for Android and iOS, an endless sample generator for just US$1.99.

Brooklyn’s incredible artist and writer Janus Rose recently came on Refuge Worldwide in Berlin for my ongoing program POST, and this is one mix you don’t want to mix. It’s one of those times you want to creep/trainspot over the CDJ display on every single track, and a lot of it is forthcoming music so – you heard it here first.

Arturia’s versatile MIDI/CV controller KeyStep Pro gets a big update with version 2.5. The release accompanies a sleek dark-gray, customizable Chroma edition but applies to all KeyStep Pro models.