It’s got an incredibly ugly interface, and it ain’t Native Instruments FM7 by any stretch, but CuteVST has two things going for it: first, it’s an FM synth that’s open source, and second, it imports Yamaha DX7 sysex data. So think of the ugly interface as geek cred. It’s the real deal: classic 6-operator synthesis, […]

Chris at Pixelsumo points out that tonight on Resonance FM, London’s 24-hour art radio station, OpenLab is hosting a program on using free and open source software tools for music. Sounds like chat, discussion, and some live sets. 7 PM London time, but of course they’ve got MP3 and Real Audio streams, too, because the […]

Deja vu, anyone? The same day that plasq has released their solution for sending audio over a network, Wormhole2, the new Tiger-ready version of Jack is out. Unlike Wormhole, Jack is Open Source, though it’s also Mac- (and Linux-) only; no Windows. Mac users, you don’t have to choose between the two: Jack is great […]

Here’s even more open source code for creating new sound interfaces using free-moving blocks for control. We looked at Sonicforms, which is both intended as a project and a repository for information. Chris’ project uses a projector aimed at a tabletop for additional feedback, and IR lights for sensing. That adds cost to the system […]

“This new media stuff is great, but it’s like it’s never developed very far. It’s like it’s technology for its own sake. How do you make music?” How many times have you heard that? One of the major causes of the “technology for its own sake syndrome” is simple: smart people are spending so much […]

It might trigger a flood of grade school memories or open a world of computing you never got to experience. But either way, “Jed’s Other Poem (Beautiful Ground),” a music video coded in Applesoft BASIC, is itself “vintage” now. At 20 years old, it’s a window into a time when open-sourcing a music video was the thing to do.

Built in Swift, now extensible with JavaScript plug-ins, IINA is the free media player that macOS needed. Hey, everybody: play with a fresh, minimalist player that handles local files, music, and streaming with aplomb. (Hey, old people: it’s like QuickTime Pro is back!)

WaveTracker is a fun, free tracker for Windows that features wavetable editing, more than 100 instrument macros, and visualization for a glitchy good time. And that brings up the many other free trackers you might try out these days…

DIYers, coders, hackers – Super Synthesis is fully open-sourcing their modules under the ultra-permissive CC0 license (public domain). It could be the start of a new model for module making – and if you’ve ever wanted to watch someone live-stream the design process, you get that, too.

The Synthstrom Audible Deluge, a grid-based synth/sequencer/sampler, has its first official open-source, community-developed firmware – “and it’s huge,” the makers say. There are new views, new effects, new modulation, and more.