Akai’s MPC Key 37 is now official – a standalone MPC/synth with onboard sampling and effects, all in a compact package with pads and 37 keys. That combination is likely to make this a hit at $899 list.

Dirtywave’s dedicated tracker hardware is getting a hardware refresh – including a built-in mic for sampling. Here’s what’s new.

The free audio editor now gets a suite of free AI tools from Intel, some competing with expensive paid subscription services. That covers useful stuff like noise suppression and transcriptions and music separation, plus more experimental generative features.

As so many friends and colleagues face ongoing warfare and violence, I hope we resist reducing them to victims – that we both keep active and keep their humanity in view. On this Bandcamp Friday, Gaza is again calling. From a mix last week for Refuge Worldwide, here’s an hour of Palestinian experimental producers and Palestinian labels and adjacent music and where to go support it.

Moog Music is putting the animation into Animoog for a new edition for Apple’s mixed reality headset, Vision Pro. It’s a stunning immersive spatial synth they’re calling Animoog Galaxy.

Algoriddim’s djay line of DJ tools is getting a lot more Apple-y. That includes a native spatial version for Apple Vision Pro. Since very few of you likely have that, the more pressing news may be complete integration with Apple Music – including your uploaded personal library.

Iconic 80s Japanese synths like the SH-101, JUPITER, JUNO, and TR drum machines were defined by both their filters and the engineering around them. We’re fortunate to get to talk about Vostok Instruments about the design of their new four-channel Atlas filter module – what it learns from the 80s classics, and what it adds to the equation.

From DJ and journalist Andra Amber Nikolayi, the Eastbloc Dispatches podcast is your pass to all the culture you could easily miss out on elsewhere, from central, eastern, and southeastern Europe, and various parts of the world recovering from the Soviet Union. And it’s full of terrific conversations.

Why go modular if you’re not going to go nuts with modulation and signal? Bastl Instruments has reimagined their hex modulation CV Trinity with a new 6-channel beast for modulation, envelopes, and knob and trigger recording.

Social media algorithms have enforced a mind-numbing sameness across the music world – pose for the camera, post a few seconds of playing a crowded rave. But not so on DJ Stingray’s feed. It’s time for ear mites. No, not metaphorically — like actual parasitic mites.