It’s the sound plenty of us grew up loathing – only to love it later. VHS tapes can shift pitch, add grain and grime, and immerse your sounds in lo-fi chorus and spread. Our friends Bedroom Producers Blog and Toybox Audio have modeled all of it in a new free plug-in for macOS and Windows.

The 1986 Alesis MIDIVERB has a unique and fabulous sound – peak budget 80s digital reverb preset trash in just the right way. So why not recreate it for free with some high-quality impulse responses?

Even with the feature still evolving in Ableton Live 12, there’s already a tutorial on creating your own Transformers and Generators for unique ways of making and altering patterns. This time, it’s in Spanish – because the first certified trainer from Latin America is also first out with a video. Here’s Joaquín Jiménez-Sauma with the scoop.

As an Iranian diaspora meets overlooked German scenes – as Cologne artists play alongside Iranian artists making unique appearances in Europe – Timcheh is another meeting point of new sound beyond borders. It’s in Cologne this week, but here’s some don’t-miss music if you can’t make it in person.

It’s a TX816 on a keychain! Someone (“Kevin”?) has put together a Raspberry Pi Zero-based build that lets you carry around eight DX7 emulator instances on a USB stick.

Drum machine November continues. Erica Synths also dropped big updates for not one but two of their drum machines. Here’s what’s new, in case you missed it late last week.

Mindmeld Shapemaster Pro is a must-have add-on for the VCV Rack modular environment. It’s a multi-stage envelope generator, VCA, and complex VCO, and for starters, a video out today will show you how to use it to make drums.

The avalanche of sales can be overwhelming, and Cyber Monday sounds like a weird themed costume night, but here are some top picks to grab musical tools and toys. And it’s great to be able to support folks making business around music making, so I’ve highlighted some small and independent makers where I can, plus the shops where their stuff is sold.

That invaluable reverb/delay we’d probably buy if it cost money, except it’s free, has gotten yet another landmark update. Leo and Virgo rising: it’s the densest yet and the sparsest yet.

“High” and “low” pitch are universal, right? Wrong. Try large and small, thick and thin, and among Zimbabwe’s Shona people, even crocodile and … those who follow crocodile. A newly updated online resource is collecting variants.