ffmpeg is a powerful but sometimes daunting free and open source video command line tool. Developer Sam Lavigne has found a way to make it easier to explore its complex filter processing tools – giving it a node-based patching interface for trying out filters in a browser. And Sam is looking for testers.

This idea has been some time coming, but Loopcloud has finally nailed it: build a plug-in that makes browsing an online sample library as easy as navigating local sounds. Loopcloud Sounds is the first plug-in to really make that seamless. Here’s a hands-on – plus an exclusive discount for CDM readers.

In the first glimpse of new-generation hardware from NI, the company is offering an MK3 revision of its Traktor X1 controller. The X1 line has always found some fans at for its simplicity and compact size. This version adds additional controls, lots of aesthetic touches, and functionality that incorporates what had previously required user hacks. So what can it do at launch – for Traktor, or even as a MIDI controller for other software?

Pygnosis’ 1995 PlayStation launch title introduced the combination of futuristic anti-gravity racing and 90s rave music. And it came complete with music by legendary Welsh game composer CoLD SToRAGE – arguably eclipsing even tracks in later editions that included Leftfield, The Chemical Brothers, and Orbital. And now Wipeout arrives in a browser port of a source code leak – and it’s a fascinating technical portrait, and least while it lasts.

Reverb’s marketplace is host to another brand running an exclusive sale – and this time, both the USA and Europe get to enjoy. Polyend’s full-sized Tracker is 40% off in their Reverb shop, for US$359 or less (USA) / €399 (Europe). Plus in other deal news, it’s your last chance on some summer sales, if there are some plug-ins you’ve been eyeing. It’s the last days of summer CDM Deals edition, or “back to school”, or … “just leave me alone to play with Tracker for the rest of the year”, you pick.

Takuma Matsui’s Petal is an expressive 8-tap stereo delay with shaping, pitch shifting, and a separate feedback loop, Max for Live (or Ableton Live Suite). Takuma has created something really special here, from the poetic interface design to elegant control of sound.

Danish artist SØS Gunver Ryberg’s SPINE was an early highlight of this year – a richly-textured world of interconnected sensorial experience. She’s now building audiovisual immersion around that work, and Defasten’s visual imagination makes the pitch-perfect complement to the release’s gently-flowing synthetic dreamworlds.

It’s the never-ending question: can we rebound from the setbacks and challenges the pandemic has brought? In the case of Superbooth Berlin, the answer is a resounding yes, thanks to a resilient synth community — that’ll be you. Here’s the news, plus some videos featuring highlights of performances and gear. (Getting to play was definitely a highlight for me!)

What’s better than a waveshaper? How about a waveshaper with a bucket full of different wavetables, dual filters, modulation, and motion sequencer that runs on mobile and desktop?

There’s a horrible myth that difficult times produce great music – the sort of thing said by people in privileged positions romanticizing crisis. Ukraine’s experimental and leftfield scene deserved more attention long before the full-scale invasion – like so many marginalized scenes. And from the experimental edges of this scene, our friends and colleagues continue producing wonderful sounds that you simply won’t want to miss. Ganna Bryzhata and Svitlana Nianio are here with music across two generations that all ambient and experimental lovers will be happy to enjoy. Here’s to Ukrainian Independence Day – and to the successful end of the war and hope for this scene gathering freely again.