The democratization of visual effects continues at a stunning pace, with or without acquisitions. But it’s hard to beat this example – an Academy Award-winning visual effects studio is now in the hands of a game engine.

Until recently, the only way to get your hands on a Roland JD-800 was to get the early-90s original hardware. But now Roland has this year unveiled two independent hardware and two independent software recreations. Let’s make sense of it all – and why it’s suddenly happening now.

Roland is continuing its series of tiny synths with some unlikely additions – the 1985 JX-8P and 1991 JD-800. But maybe the big news is, under the hood, you finally get serious polyphony.

Robert Lippok (raster media) prepared a beautiful mix as a companion to this year’s Glacier Music II release. It’s now available to hear on-demand on SoundCloud from Iranian radio project Beshknow, so definitely don’t miss it.

It’s heard in drips, in flows of water. It’s counted in numbers, echoes in poetry, called into the air in plaintive cries, sighing instruments, and the decay of piano notes. When a crisis reaches us somewhere that even words fail, maybe we need sounds and music to tell the story alongside science.

Bitwig users get a bunch of goodies in the just-announced 4.1. There are tons of Note FX devices with various features for organic and musical and simulated physics-based playability, plus a really smart way of handling color palettes, chains that trigger when you release Sampler notes, and more. She’s like a rainbow If you’re on […]

Live just turned 20 years old, but there’s still no end to personalized ideas for how to control it. The latest is open·control, and it’s focused on quick, customizable triggers for the Session View, Looper, and editing – as a pocket-sized remote or via pedal inputs.

In a world when so much seems virtual, remote, simulated, and yet oddly pre-scripted, Berlin’s Morphine Records turned in the month of October to something else. It was musical technology in raw and spontaneous form – intimate encounters, together in a room.

The floodgates are open, and not only are we seeing new Apple hardware, but M1 native plug-ins to take advantage of it, too. Eventide is the latest, bringing a massive arsenal of essential stuff. And the fact they run on iLok suggests more iLok-based plug-ins from other vendors are likely inbound soon, too.

If Apple and PC makers aren’t inspiring you, there’s always teenage engineering. The Swedish maker of synths, sound gear, and electronics are now offering up their own custom PC case – orange, aluminum, with carry-handle, for mini-ITX and dual-slot GPU. It could be the start of someone’s killer portable music/gaming/VJ rig.