It started as small collections of effects “you’d actually use,” and Arturia’s full FX Collection suite has grown well into that. I’ve been hands-on with the latest edition – here’s all that’s new.

Bitwig and plug-in maker u-he today are announcing a new plug-in format into beta, dubbed CLAP, for CLever Audio Plug-in API. It’s open and has features missing from the leading proprietary formats – and boasts some significant support at launch. So what will that mean for you?

It looks like another budget semi-modular, but look closer: Moog’s latest is a distillation of a lot of what distinguishes a Moog modular voice, with some significant twists (wavefolder!). And it can work on its own or as an ideal companion to other patchable instruments. Let’s break it down.

You’re spoiled for choice in standalone drum machines. But Akai is leaning heavily on frequent updates – and there’s plenty in the latest MPC 2.11 release for all their standalone devices.

The free browser-based patching environment for visuals cables.gl has one hot summer update. New ray casting and the power to walk around and walk into walls.

“Hey girls! Hey boys! Superstar VJs! Here we go!” Erm… ask your parents. Yeah Resolume will now sync your visuals to Pioneer mixers and CDJs, in a debut for PRO DJ LINK Bridge. And there’s plenty more visual candy where that came from.

Arturia’s V-Collection 9 is more than just another “add some more instruments, update a few things” V-Collection refresh. This one goes somewhere new and dreamy – both with new instruments that aren’t remakes of old stuff, and some of the biggest advancements coming in the form of rebuilds for some of your favorites.

The most powerful impact anyone can have in music is not just to find their own voice but to help others find theirs. It means that song echoing across the hills. And across hardware and software, few have shared passion and understanding of DIY musical expression quite like Darwin Grosse.

Okay, creative pros or itinerant machine art producers or fugitive digital bohemian technomusicologists or whatever we call ourselves – a lot of news just dropped at WWDC, but here’s the stuff that likely matters most to you.

It’s time to become a visual escape artist. Houdini, the 3D procedural tool from SideFX, is vital secret sauce in visuals, including live and immersive AV. But what’s it about – either technically how to use this thing or why and how to get inspired? There are some great recent videos from the Houdini folks with just that in mind. Don’t forget, too – it’s free for Unreal and Unity use.