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

From Egyptology and Commodore Amiga to reflecting on AI and selecting the best physical modeling tools, Ed and Andy (Plaid) open up about their work and practice. We’re turning this year into the next with talks with our favorite artists.

It’s what VCV Rack users have been waiting for. Instruō has Apple Silicon-native support for its software module clones, plus, for all platforms, the cèis envelope generator and powerful øchd modulation expander. And it’s all freeware.

While the year draws to a close and much of the world is focused on holidays, Tbilisi’s music community is out in force in ongoing protests, fighting for Georgian democracy.

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.

Noah Pred has a fantastic free treat out on Manifest Audio for Ableton Live and Max for Live. Percotone is monophonic, expressive, playable, and full of tonal, pitch-mangling delights. It’s just the thing for sneaking in some quick sound experiments in the waning days of the year.

On December 24 and 25, radio will broadcast live from Gaza and produce a live-streamed exchange between a choir in Bethlehem and Hebron and one in Khan Younis. It’s an unprecedented live connection to a world whose violence has been shrouded in darkness. It’s also a way for live streaming to reconnect a Palestine divided across the West Bank and Gaza.

Virtual patching has reached a major milestone: you don’t need a controller. Using just your hands and natural gestures, you can now build up entire interactive worlds, connect virtual wires, tweak knobs and faders, and play virtual instruments in PatchWorld on Meta Quest. Combined with Mixed Reality, virtual physics, and support for OpenSoundControl and Ableton Live and Link integration, it’s a glimpse of how mixed reality and VR can work for music making.

Stochastic Instruments has a preview of some tasty generative sequencer modules. Random walks meet music theory, and what you get is Melodic Contour Sequencing, navigated with knobs, voltage, and (on the larger module) a joystick.

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.