Music tech Software Tech
Free Friday: GForce’s superb Axxess instrument is free until December
GForce has updated their site, branding, and pricing (now with both lifetime licenses and subscription options). And there are two freebies, time-limited through the end of November: a Mellotron M400 instrument, and the one I suspect most readers will be into, GForce’s take on the 1975 ARP Axxe synthesizer.
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OB-Xf, free and open-source Oberheim-inspired synth, is now in beta
Here’s a good way to start 2026: the folks at Surge Synth Team now have their free and open-source OB-Xf synth in beta status in nightlies, with 1.0 just around the corner. And that means this long-running project is just about ready for primetime, bringing a fully open instrument inspired by the 1979 Oberheim OB-X. […]
Peter Kirn - January 2, 2026
Music tech Software Tech
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.
Peter Kirn - September 16, 2025
DIY + Unusual Gear Motion Music Tech
A 1970s DIY modular from Elektor Magazine just got reborn
Peter Kirn - August 14, 2025
DIY + Unusual Gear Modular-Analog Music tech Tech
Radio Shack’s TRS-80 now has polyphonic MIDI and a tracker
Peter Kirn - June 2, 2025
DIY + Unusual Gear Motion Music tech Software Tech
Harvestworks, NYC arts center founded in 1977, threatened by US funding cuts
Peter Kirn - May 7, 2025
DIY + Unusual Motion Music Tech
