The evolution of music is intertwined with the design and capabilities of instruments. After several decades of more constrained tuning and expression, new playability is becoming a norm with technologies like MPE and live per-note tuning. Music hardware maker Roman Flippov of Japan-headquartered Black Corporation joins us to connect early instruments from Buchla and Yamaha with these capabilities with modern creations.

If you weren’t already in love with the free synthesis powerhouse that is Surge XT, here’s a big 1.3.0 release with a candy store of new features, from Open Sound Control to command line interface to visualizations in the tuning editor.

Today, Plogue is launching chipsynth C64, an AAX/AU/VST3/CLAP plug-in recreation of the Commodore 64/128 and its legendary 1982 SID chip (and successors). No one else could create an emulation this obsessive. After just a few minutes with it, it feels like encountering an entirely new instrument that fell straight out of a past decade. It’s likely to enchant both nostalgic C64 fans and those discovering chip music for the first time.

Moog’s Mariana is here on desktop (macOS, Windows) and iOS and – it’s about as much Moog sound as you can imagine in software. Here’s what’s in that architecture, some hands-on first impressions, plus details of a significant update for the Moogerfooger software effect range that goes perfectly with the synth.

“High” and “low” pitch are universal, right? Wrong. Try large and small, thick and thin, and among Zimbabwe’s Shona people, even crocodile and … those who follow crocodile. A newly updated online resource is collecting variants.

We already found 1010music’s bluebox a musically inspiring combination of mixer, multitrack recorder/player, and effects. The leap to Eurorack has opened up even greater potential, producing this $699 multitasker.

Ableton Live 12 will ship with new integrated tuning support — but there’s more. An interactive website will explore the context and musical traditions behind some of those tunings, along with interactive tools for working with tuning and modes. Here’s a preview.

Noise Engineering’s Xer Mixa is a tour de force – an expansive all-analog bank of VCAs for stereo mixing and creative applications in Eurorack, paired with deep control and customization.

The perfect MIDI visualizer keeps growing by leaps and bounds. New open-source tool ShowMIDI shows MIDI data in a structured, readable way. And now it’s got a slick new UI and runs on iOS as well as macOS, Windows, and Linux, among other features.

Paulee Aex Bow, who has lately given us tours of the Commodore Amiga and Roland V-Synth, speaks in an extensive, poignant video about their experience with autism. It’s a much-watch for neurodivergent and general audiences alike.