If news of Finale’s demise had you pondering what notation is for – and who it’s for – those are the right questions to ask. And yes, there is a world beyond Common Western Notation.

Steinberg has shared a quick “switcher” tutorial for Finale users getting started with Dorico. Plus, here’s some general advice for switchers—especially for composers who are now worried they’ll lose access to their work.

It’s the end of an era in music notation software. 35 years after its introduction as Coda Music Technologies’ Finale, the landmark scoring software is at the end of its life. Developer MakeMusic is offering a steeply discounted crossgrade to Steinberg’s Dorico, and says Dorico represents “the bright future of the music notation industry.”

Florian Meindl and I have been working on new stuff with FLASH Recordings – when we’re not going deep into the gear. And to celebrate our ongoing collab, we have an EP out for free on Bandcamp this weekend only.

ШЩЦ, the label born in Kyiv and raised in London, is now touring to Berlin and Prague. It’s a perfect time to visit some of the rich ambient sounds they’ve been exploring. Both labels promise to develop the underappreciated leftfield music of Ukraine and its diaspora, forming tighter collaborations with a growing network of like-minded internationals.

Developer Anton Marini, aka vade, is bringing back the legacy of Quartz Composer and proving Apple’s visual APIs are ready for real-time. Have a look—and watch what you can do with 3D Gaussian splats (if you know you know).

1989’s Waldorf Microwave is about to hit your DAW. And this isn’t just another plug-in emulation of some vintage gear. Waldorf has gone to great lengths to reproduce both the analog and digital sides of the original – and even built software that can act as an editor if you do have the original hardware.

DivKid and Vostok Instruments are bringing the joys of the Interpolating Scanner to Eurorack. First introduced 30 years ago by legendary engineer and analog sound hacker Jürgen Haible, the classic scanning circuit smoothly transitions between four input channels.

Sami Abu Shumays has uploaded his complete lecture on politics and maqams. He talks about how decolonizing music also meant decolonizing himself—reconnecting to his roots as a Palestinian American. This is essential context for Sami’s work, which includes the Arabic tuning section of Ableton Live 12’s tuning implementation and free companion site.

“I got a fever! And the only prescription is … more rimshot!” If you’re set to get really obsessive about analog rimshots and claves, this Erica Synths reboot of Hexinverter has you. (And you might discover unique kicks and toms and other percussion, too.)