In a year that is finally bringing tuning into music tech headlines, here’s a tool from ODDSound and Richard James that promises to help – and it’s free to get started. Let’s talk to the developers.

This year has kicked off with a renewed conversation about tuning in electronic music. Khyam Allami has helped ignite that interest with free online browser tools anyone can explore, plus performances showcasing them – and has been outspoken about the philosophy behind them and why they matter. Here’s a deep dive into that work.

Your next design project or album cover can pick up trendy letters from independent designers – all while helping get meals to those in need.

This labor-of-love, free and open-source software synth has gotten a whole lot more love – with new filters, features, modulation, and content. Surge is a must-have on Mac, Windows, or Linux, and keeps getting better.

It’s cute and small, it’s affordable, and now it’s getting more packed into it, in collaboration with boutique maker Noise Engineering. Here’s a look at what’s new in Arturia’s free 3.0.x firmware update to their MicroFreak synth.

“This stompbox provides some of the most over-the-top, insane distortion tones in the world” – or, you know, some people are insanely over-the-top distorted enough to think it’ll be inside a vaccine.

The wonderfully mysterious analog LYRA-8 synthesizer world now has an unofficial digital cousin – and it’s free-or-pay-what-you-can for Pure Data (and cross-platform AU and VST).

Polyend’s beloved Tracker finishes out the year with a pitch-perfect update – and homebrew gaming. And there are updates for their Preset module for Eurorack and the brilliant Medusa synthesizer hardware, too.

Love eye candy? Love patching together node-based tools – but don’t want to give up serious JavaScript coding for AI and 2D and 3D graphics and augmented reality? Nodes might be for you. Free, Mac/Windows/Linux. This tool is now coming into its own – and just as winter 2020, amidst bringing a world of hurt, […]

Who said 2020 was devoid of holiday spirit? Nerd Santa Claus* came through, at least, because Bastl Instruments have made a quirky, sexy good time in the Kastle Drum, a drum-focused follow-up to their adorable Kastle.