It’s the end of an era in music notation software. 35 years after its introduction as Coda Music Technologies’ Finale, the landmark scoring software is at the end of its life. Developer MakeMusic is offering a steeply discounted crossgrade to Steinberg’s Dorico, and says Dorico represents “the bright future of the music notation industry.”

Ableton Live has never had a built-in notation view, but one intrepid developer has created one in Max – and it’s free/donation- and community-supported. And it works beautifully.

Nothing to download, no AI (and it’s not training on your stuff), and nothing to pay: Pikimov is a free Web-based motion graphics tool and video editor. It runs in your browser, but your files stay on your machine. In other words, it’s exactly what you wanted.

We’ve got ancient Chilean trees, a serial/parallel frequency shifter effect combined with a rich reverb, and a tool you can try in your browser as well as in plug-in form. Let’s talk to acclaimed composer Cristian Vogel about the art and code of NEL ShifterMesh.

You’ve heard time stretching. You’ve heard extreme time stretching. Sloom, a new plug-in and standalone app, is extreme-extreme-extreme time stretching – like instant ambient, instant experimental sonic manipulation – complete with unique spectral shaping.

NAP Framework, the free and open-source, lightweight, open-source framework for artists and designers now looks and runs better than before. And keeping it free, there’s now a non-profit NAP Labs organization – while the creators merge with partners Studio DRIFT.

Love Linux? Time to show it: CDM fave Sinevibes has brought their Integer effect plug-in to Linux-native VST3. So it’d be great to hear from Linux-using CDMers about this one.

Rob Hordijk’s wonderful Benjolin has been recreated in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, by squaresolid / instrumentasia (aka builder Andreas Siagian). Meet Benjolin – Gorga, in Eurorack – or, uh, Asiarack!

Kaleidoloop, an adorable portable looper/recorder, is back with a compact form factor plus a software update that delivers new modes, layering, and more. It’s now also a unique playback/effect that you can customize yourself with Pd.

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.