Over 60 years after its invention, FM synthesis is still full of surprises. And that’s what makes the free MS-2 synth plug-in fun.

Dutch designer Rob Hordijk inspired many instrument creators before his death last fall. Meng Qi is one of those moved by his work. He has just released an alternative firmware for his Wingie2 that allows it to behave like Hordijk’s beloved Blippoo Box.

What if a custom oscillator had its own chorus-y pitch drift tape wobble effect? So far, that sounds delicious. Sinevibes are posting some new teasers of their DENSE custom oscillator for the KORG ‘logue platform.

As our Ukrainian friends and family have endured a year of full-scale war, here are some of their voices. For them and to all those resisting violence and occupation, here’s some space for them to be musicians and artists, even in the face of terror.

Forget buying licenses, In-App Purchases, or subscriptions. The future is a fistful of quarters and heading down to the Music Arcade! Meet the Beat Machine arcade machine from Endlesss.

Roland has built one packed instrument to celebrate 50 years of the company’s synths. The SH-4d sports eleven synth oscillator models in one box – from SH-101 and JUNO-106 to new cross FM and wavetable synths. But it’s still hands-on, battery-powered, and costs US$649. And there’s a twist, literally: D-MOTION motion control means you can pick up the synth and play it by moving it around.

The flagship CV/gate and MIDI sequencer from endorphin.es is now available in its own “ultralight” aluminum 42HP housing – atop last year’s V2 update and recent smaller tweaks. All your step sequencing and polymetric and polyrhythmic needs are here.

This graphic will definitely not reassure folks who are afraid of Eurorack buttons that have multiple functions. But there is now a visual cheat sheet for Noise Engineering’s Mimetic Digitalis sequencer. And stick around for tips on switches and – believe it or not, actual musical form!

One little board is the brains of just about any synth, modular starting point, noisemaker, or instrument you can dream up. Meet the Datanoise PicoADK – Raspberry Pico plus high-quality I/O and the Vult DSP language. Now with a complete video tour of how to get started.

In 1977, the marriage of motion pictures and telephones somehow birthed Hal Alles’ Bell Labs Digital Synthesizer – an experimental additive synth that imagined new directions for both music and vocal communication. This 1977 demo has the creator show off that vision, and Laurie Spiegel is on-hand to explore the device compositionally.