A poetic, open-source video made on 1979’s Apple II+ and BASIC

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.

A 1970s DIY modular from Elektor Magazine just got reborn

Erica Synths is reimagining a modular synth you’ve probably never heard of. In the late 1970s, Dutch publication Elektor Magazine put out something it called the Elektor Formant as a series of DIY kits. That modular system is getting a full reimagining and reboot from Erica Synths.

Peter Kirn - August 14, 2025

Radio Shack’s TRS-80 now has polyphonic MIDI and a tracker

The Tandy Corporation-manufactured, Radio Shack-sold TRS-80 computer debuted in 1977. But now you can now add full polyphonic MIDI support thanks to George Philipps and Michael Wessel. And it’s already transformed into a serious live instrument and production tool. Assembly cost: about $35. The TRS-80: a tool for the 2020s.

Peter Kirn - June 2, 2025

Harvestworks, NYC arts center founded in 1977, threatened by US funding cuts

Peter Kirn - May 7, 2025

Funk music history and Black liberation in a full-length documentary, online

Peter Kirn - April 23, 2025

Laurie Spiegel interview offers a way of thinking about community, imagination

Peter Kirn - April 7, 2025

Working with Alan Parsons, PSP recreates Frequency Translator

Peter Kirn - January 20, 2025

Minimoog’s missing link: how an icon was born in summer of 1970

Peter Kirn - December 20, 2024

Here’s Ben Burtt breaking down every single iconic sound design from Star Wars, film by film

Peter Kirn - May 4, 2023

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