It’s consolidation season fo the industry. And Focusrite has just acquired legendary synth maker Sequential, alongside names like Adam Audio and Novation.

The Mark of the Unicorn shines brightly. MOTU are here with a ground-up redesign of their blowout hit audio interface UltraLite (now on revision mk5). Combine that with expanded support on Apple platforms and a still-great driverless line, and you have a MOTU interface for just about any job.

This year has kicked off with a renewed conversation about tuning in electronic music. Khyam Allami has helped ignite that interest with free online browser tools anyone can explore, plus performances showcasing them – and has been outspoken about the philosophy behind them and why they matter. Here’s a deep dive into that work.

Disclosure: I hate demos. Hate watching them. Hate doing them. Now, technically, this is a demo. But… uh, wow.

You’ve seen some feature lists – and this time Ableton is even doing a 90-day free trial. But how do you actually dig into what’s new in Live 11 and start working? Here’s a deep guide to all the essentials.

Novation’s Circuit Tracks is out now – I’ve got one to test. Circuit Rhythm is coming in summer. It’s the one that samples directly; here’s what we know so far.

Forget what platform it’s on for a moment – a Friday is a perfect time to support independent DIY music production, by directly supporting the artist and downloading something that you can come back to again and again.

In self-released sounds emanating from the state of Virginia, glia’s studies in rhythm and phrase are absolutely essential.

When you feel like you’re out of ideas, when you’ve obsessed over that edit and that knob, when your mood has gone south… it’s time to stop everything and jam. January doldrums, meet Jamuary bliss.

When you can’t necessarily make sense of time, but feel the need to mark its passage, there is the entire discipline of music. David Abravanel returns for year-end Pairing Mode picks and words on why you should give them deep listening.