If some form of magical elves did not arrive with music tools you’ve had your eyes on, here’s some good luck: several big sales are still running, from Max for Live devices to gear. Whether they’re called “holiday” or “end of year” … let’s just call it the end. We have arrived at the terminus. […]

On the heels of Steep Stims, Clark’s latest full-length, we spoke at length about piano delusions, seriousness and play, film scoring, repetition, hardware, live performance, and the strange necessity of cultivating “friendly parasites” in the creative process.

Food comas. Empty wrapping paper. Or whatever you’re celebrating, hopefully you’ve got some time off to grab a slew of free synth-y gifts available to download right now. Need a soundtrack? 1987 and Atari ST have you covered.

In its bones, Eterna for monome norns returns to some of the original success of monome: doing imaginative, intuitive, musical things with slices. A single audio file transforms via 6-voice sampler/sequencer and 12-page interface into everything from delicate ambient textures to detailed grooves.

Much about The Black Dog was and remains wrapped in an air of mystery and mischief, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that Ken Downie’s death this week came as an unexpected shock to those outside of his small immediate circle.

A Web-native version of FL Studio generated a lot of buzz — and some confusion. Was this replacing the desktop version? (Absolutely not.) Was it part of some larger AI play? (Mostly Suno users seemed to think that.) Image-Line responded to my questions with their side of this — and I took the new Web UI for a spin.

As part of CDM’s year-end coverage, I’m rounding up some of the best music and sound design in games. There’s nowhere better to start than Despelote, a beautifully designed and directed game that will move you by putting you in the shoes of a kid in 2001 Quito, Ecuador. It’s a master study in weaving sound and music in a way that both triggers sense memories and transports you inside a life experience.

There are few places on Earth where you can see the state of the live light and sound industry quite like Las Vegas’ LDI show. It comes with all the usual trade show trappings, from industrial espionage and theft to insanely expensive booths (and wastebaskets). But it also provides a glimpse into opportunities for individual and DIY artists to earn money, at a time when wide swaths of the creative industries feel like they’re coming unglued. That VJ/live visual or live sound career might be worth a second look. We got an exclusive report on the ground from Colin Keerhuen for CDM.

Chiptune, granular, ambient pads, experimental, percussion — once upon a time, Tweakbench plug-ins were everything. And now they’re back, with full support for AU and VST3 on macOS (including Apple Silicon), Windows, and Linux.

Harvard teacher and PhD candidate Shae O. Omonijo has put a full set of teaching materials online, including videos and a syllabus. This is your guide to staying human, reconnecting with offline communities, and embracing critical thinking and reading even in the AI age. And with that critical perspective comes something you may have been missing: optimism.