Ardour 9.2, free and open DAW, grants user wishes — Region FX, anyone?

If you haven’t tried Ardour in a while — or if you’re new to the idea that a DAW could be free and open source — you might be surprised. Major updates and a lot of listening to users means you don’t have to sacrifice features like clip recording and editing (including looping), piano roll windows, and more. Plus you get things a lot of tools can’t do, like region effects. Ardour is worth downloading on macOS, Windows, or Linux — any of them.

Poly Flanger: a guide to Minimal Audio’s new tunable 8-voice FX

Minimal Audio’s Poly Flanger is a “musical” stereo flanger — with tuning options, scale quantization, three modes, and 1-8 voices, plus deep modulation and timbral options. “Flanger” is accurate, but almost unfair — this is a deep 8-voice comb resonator that you can set in key with your project or turn into a liquid, sound-transforming, even glitchy beast. Here’s a deep-dive guide to how to get the most out of it.

Peter Kirn - February 18, 2026

CR-78, more BOSS pedals: Roland adds more software for this Mad World

More vintage Roland gear is bound for official plug-in versions. Here’s the surprise: the CR-78 gets the nicest, most detailed software rendition yet. We also round out those nice BOSS pedals. It could be just what you need for some extra classic Roland gear in the software rig.

Peter Kirn - January 21, 2026