Just when you need it most, here’s a fresh idea in hardware. Gearnews leaks new motorized MIDI controller hardware from Melbourne Instruments, the Delia and Nina synth maker.

Nothing about this year was normal; next year promises the same. But that’s what music is for – to reframe moments in time.

From La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela to Valee and Gangsta Boo, Michael Vincent Waller talks to us about collaboration, mixing, and connecting the dots between modern Classical/new concert music and hip-hop.

Eventide is in on the holiday gift game, too, with a giveaway through New Year’s Eve of one-knob signal separation fixers for low-end thump and high-end air.

It’s a drum machine. It’s a sampler. It’s got a rechargeable battery. It’s got… some space inside the case. So hacker DIYDSP (Noah Vawter) added his own amp and speaker, modding the handheld with the self-contained speaker Roland left out.

Baby Audio has a giveaway of an effect from their collaboration with Andrew Huang, Transit 2. Warp is just that module – Speed, and time-independent pitch (Stretch) – for free.

A sequel is only worth its weight in spice if it can best the original. For Dune 2, Hans Zimmer and his team went further with their electronic instrumentation to immerse us even deeper in otherworldly sounds. Now we get some insights into how they did it, and why the Expressive E Osmose was a starring player.

From full free and open-source software to proprietary favorites from other platforms, the plug-in options on Linux have quietly come into their own. linuxdaw.org has a visual, searchable catalog – and it’s a reminder of just how spoiled for choice you are even without Windows or macOS.

It’s snooker champion Steve Davis! It’s a red-hot Eurorack performance! It’s Gaz from SonicState! It’s a new modular label! And it’s even got the BBC’s attention!

Roland’s JUNO-D may not be flashy, but it runs off USB-C and has features from the company’s flagships – ZEN-Core engine, sequencer, and Wave Expansion support – at a fraction of the price, starting at $899. There’s even the hammer-action D8 at $1299.