One of the most sought-after instruments of all time is back in the form of its complete, authentic recreation (“FS”). It’s a Reverb Shop-only sale for the USA, in a rare chance to grab this instrument – and another excuse to recall how it created iconic sounds from Herbie Hancock to, yes, R2D2. May the 4th be with you.

Watch just how painstaking and time-consuming electronic music production was ca. mid-to-late 1960s, in this rare documentary of the German Siemens Studio (now preserved in Munich at the Deutsches Museum).

Analog, digital… we’re onto the physical, kinetic, and electroacoustic. For one example, marvel at the Polystepper by artist/woodworker Love Hultén and coder Koka Nikoladze.

Two long-awaited updates to Reason arrive today. Reason now is fully Apple Silicon native for Mac users, and there’s an offline mode, for both Reason+ subscribers and license owners.

Speaking of live visuals, Tarik Barri has been composing some quick 1-minute demo/tutorials in Videosync, the software he contributes to for Ableton Live / Max for Live on the Mac.

Live visual tool Resolume (Avenue / Arena / Wire) gets yet another bump release – this time with Dilate, Sharpen, and Kuwahara Effects plus some nice usability improvements in the interface.

“Kitbashing” is an AV protest, a hard-hitting burst of fresh air, as producer ABADIR and media artist Nicolò Cervello are here to break you out of endless scrolling by transcending its materials. From the fragments of our algorithmic existence comes 17 minutes of liberating sound and light.

Developer/musician/media artist Gwangyu Lee has made an app for iPad and iPhone that captures skeleton data and sends it via OSC. It’s free this week, and includes a complete tutorial (for use with any tool) and a TouchDesigner example.

Dust off that GBA: it’s a groove box now. Stepper is a free and open source 16-step sequencer with full access to the onboard sound engine and per-trigger parameter locks, Elektron-style. (And this pairs well with Elektron gear, as the developer shows.)

Some of Teenage Engineering’s high-end design offerings sometimes seem made for design showcases as much as actual music making. But behold the CM-15: this is a gorgeous concept in an area that rarely sees genuinely new design. If it works as advertised, it seems like a new product category.